Illusions: The End of Innocence
by Pyeknu
Summary: Set during BGC OVAs 5 & 6. Sylvie's and Anri's friends on Genaros didn't remain dead thanks to a special protocol hidden in their AI chips. On being reborn, they enter a world beyond imagination. What will happen when Sylvie and Anri face that fate?
1. Professor Stingray's Last Gift

Near Lac La Biche, Alberta (220 kilometres northeast of Edmonton), Friday 25 March 2033, 3:40 PM (Megatōkyō time: Saturday, 26 March 2033, 7:40 AM) . . .

"So, Eve . . . "

A sigh. "Yes, Joyce?"

"Are we EVER going to meet this gorgeous vixen you call a girlfriend?"

Hearing that playful, teasing question from her guest, Evelyn Thompson tried not to groan. _Oh, Spirits, PLEASE!_ the freckled, grey-eyed blonde mentally pleaded as she kept her face turned away from her questioner. _PLEASE! Why do people keep asking me THAT? Can't they finally understand that I can't say a damned word about what Terri really is?_ Taking a deep breath, she turned to give the smiling girl with the sea-green eyes and the long, curly chestnut hair a look. "Doubtful, Joyce."

"Aw, Eve! Have a heart, huh?" Miranda Richter whined before she flashed Jocelyn Mackenzie a knowing look. "We've both got incredible boyfriends of our own to love and care for us! We've always brought them with us whenever we've got together! And yet YOU . . .!" - she pointed at Evelyn - " . . . the first of us TO cross over, by the by! - won't let us meet your girlfriend!" An arched eyebrow climbed up into the bangs of Miranda's short-cut, sandy hair as her purple-blue eyes - a trait she shared with her "twin" sister - sparkled with mischief. "What's the matter?"

"Eve, does she know what you are?" Jocelyn asked, her green eyes - a trait she (like Miranda) shared with a sister she considered a "twin" - flashing with concern.

"Of course Terri knows about me!" Evelyn said. "She knew about me even BEFORE I crossed over! She actually came to Japan _after _I crossed over to check up on me!"

Miranda's and Jocelyn's jaws dropped. "How?" the former demanded.

"We're aware that Terri served in the military, but the whole thing of Janus is kept a top secret, even there!" the latter asserted. "So how did she . . .?"

"I've got Level 5-S clearance on the LoopNet, Joyce."

Miranda and Jocelyn gasped on hearing that amused voice as Evelyn found herself gaping at the tomboyish blonde now standing at the open back door. "TERRI!"

Chuckling in amusement, the adopted native of Calgary walked in to embrace her girlfriend, kissing her on a cheek. "Hey, Eve. Got more of that coffee?"

Evelyn's cheeks reddened. "What are you DOING here?" she hissed as she stared into the older woman's blue eyes. "I thought you said . . . "

"Something's happened," Terri announced before leaning in.

The kiss that followed was tender, passionate and loving. It was a somewhat rare thing between Terri Kim and her current companion, which made incidents like this all the more shocking. And all the more welcome. Evelyn knew what sort of ghosts she was ultimately fighting. The ghosts she had been fighting since the day five years before, when she had vowed to be at Terri's side for as long as she was wanted there by the older woman. The ghost of a lost love, a beloved mate who died thirteen years ago this coming summer. A person whom Evelyn Thompson always knew she could never come close to replacing in Terri's life no matter what. She had never wanted to do that, of course. She loved Terri for her own reasons and wanted Terri to love her for her own reasons. Not because she was there and Marlene Ioanis wasn't.

After pulling apart, Evelyn blinked. "What happened?"

A sigh. "Sit down, Eve."

Evelyn did as she was bade. Taking a deep breath, Terri drew off her blue windbreaker, revealing a simple T-shirt underneath, that emblazoned with the Saint Andrews Cross-wreath of maple leaves and thistles-beaver-and-Crown crest of the Calgary Highlanders, a militia infantry regiment based in the city of the same name. And the red-ink skull-snakes-and-sword tattoos on her lower arms, those emblazoned with the word **AIRAGHARDT** - which was Gàidhlig for "Onward," motto of both Terri's regiment and home city - on a scroll underneath. Those tattoos made Jocelyn's eyes shoot past her round reading glasses as her jaw dropped in stunned disbelief before she looked up into Terri's eyes. Seeing that, the infantry soldier-turned-special forces operative smirked. "If Deanna was still alive, Joyce, she would consider it the highest of honours to see you as her future sister-in-law," she said.

Jocelyn blinked, and then she chuckled. "I can see why you chose to keep this secret from us, Eve," she said as she stared at Evelyn. "I assume the majority of us who are living in Canada are in the same situation when it comes to their companions?"

Evelyn stared at her, and then she nodded. "We are."

"I don't get it."

Eyes locked on a confused Miranda. "Terri's a Death Eater. The survivors of the 1st Assault Squadron are considered on the Canadian Forces Special List," Evelyn explained. "Technically seen as mobilised for war. And you must NEVER speak about this to anyone else. Not even Solomon." She glanced at Jocelyn. "Does Jeff know?"

"No. Baba knows," Jocelyn replied. "Where . . .?"

"I was C Troop sergeant under Colleen Walton," Terri explained.

Miranda perked. "Wait! That's Silver Cameron's fiancée . . .!" she gasped, and then she stared at Jocelyn before she breathed out. "Whoa! You mean . . .?"

"Most of the girls who've crossed over and come to live in Canada agreed to become 'adjutants' to the surviving Death Eaters," Evelyn explained. "Silver and Mary were the first to do that. Nancy, Denise, Lise, Allia, Yvonne, Melody, Setsuko, Kitty, Ilse, Helga, Eden and myself followed before the recall forced our sisters into space, then came the first group of 'Darkside One Survivors.' The others followed." She fixed the sandy-haired girl with a look. "DON'T ever say that to anyone, Randy!"

"Okay! I won't! I won't!" Miranda assured with a wave of her hands.

"What happened, Terri?" Jocelyn then asked.

Terri sighed as she walked into the kitchenette to pour herself a glass of fruit juice. "Three hours ago, there was an incident on Genaros," she reported as she walked over to sit in the only empty chair. "Five 33-S's, for reasons unknown at this time, tried to make a break for freedom. A rather PUBLIC break, which brought down the station's security force all over them like an avalanche. Two got away, three were shot down in the hangar just before the shuttle blasted off. You can guess what'll happen in Nerima." A pause as she closed her eyes before she stared at her girlfriend and their guests. "A Black Dragon will be here in an hour to take you three and myself to Japan. Your father wants your help in finding out what happened."

Evelyn, Jocelyn and Miranda tensed on hearing Terri use the title their kind had applied to a man named Saotome Yoshio over the last half-decade. "I see," Jocelyn breathed out. "If Father wants us, we'll come. But to use a Black Dragon . . .?"

"That's an arrangement we have with Allia about this," Terri stated.

Miranda perked. "Then Allia's wife Heather is . . .?"

"She was troop medic under Mary Watson," Terri answered.

"Mary was Deanna's fiancée," Jocelyn added.

Miranda stared at her, and then she nodded. "Right . . . "

"Why were we specifically asked by Father to go, Terri?" Evelyn asked.

Terri closed her eyes. "The three girls who were shot down in the hangar were 33-S first generation girls AD65A, AF02A and AE17A." She then looked directly at Miranda. "Namiko." She then stared at Jocelyn. "Megan." And then to Evelyn. "Louise." She closed her eyes again. "Your twin sisters."

Stunned silence fell over the room.

* * *

_**The End of Innocence**_  
an Illusions fanfic of the Bubblegum Crisis, Megatōkyō 2033  
by Fred Herriot

Based on characters and situations from _Bubblegum Crisis_, created by Suzuki Toshimichi, ARTMIC and Youmex; and _Urusei Yastura_, created by Takahashi Rumiko.

Including characters, concepts and situations from _Tokimeki Memorial_, created by Konami; _Sentimental Graffiti_, created by NEC Interchannel; _To Heart_, created by Leaf and Aquaplus; _Sister Princess - Onii-chan Daisuki_, created by Tenhiro Naoto, Kimino Sakurako and Mediaworks; _Azumanga Daioh_, created by Azuma Kiyohiko; _Mah__ō__ Sensei Negima_, created by Akamatsu Ken; _Joshi K__ō__sei - High School Girls_, created by Ōshima Towa; _Seraphim Call_, created by Sunrise; the _Noël_ series, created by Pioneer LDC; the _D__ō__ky__ū__sei_ series, created by ELF and Pink Pineapple; _Kita-e - White Illumination_, created by Hudson Soft; _Maria-sama ga Miteru_, created by Oyuki Konno; _Strawberry Panic_, created by Kimino Sakurako and Mediaworks; the _Harry Potter_ series, created by Joanna K. Rowling; and the _Battle Royale_ series, created by Takami Kōshun.

Based also on situations in the BGC fanfic series _No Armour Against Fate_, written by Shawn Hagen; and the UY fanfic series _The Senior Year_ and its sequels, written by Mike Smith and Fred Herriot.

* * *

_**WRITER**__**'**__**S INTRODUCTION:**__ This is a rewrite of a story I did some years ago when I wanted to revise my _Illusions_ concept to match up with not just the revised version of Shawn__'__s _No Armour Against Fate_ series, but some theories I came up with concerning what might happen to boomers when they actually __"__die,__" especially when one mixes meson ("the element of the mind and soul," to borrow a quote from _The Icemaidens and the Philosopher's Stone_) into the equation.__ For those who don__'__t remember the original _BGC_ series, this story is set in the background of __"__Moonlight Rambler__"__ and __"__Red Eyes,__"__ which occurred in 2033 before the exact dates that were used in the follow-on story, __"__Double Vision.__"__ As always, all writer__'__s notes will come at the end of the story text. All Oriental names (including those with Occidental given names) are written in __"__family name-first__"__ order, with Occidental names in __"__family name-last__"__ order._

* * *

_Somewhere . . ._

_ "Nam? Meg? Where are you?"_

_ Shuddering as terror gripped her from head to toe, the blue-eyed blonde, who was presently nude, shivering from both the cold air and overwhelming fear, looked around this strange place. She was on some sort of clumpy ground, but she couldn't tell where. Everything save anything below her to about a half-metre out was completely grey and smoky. Try as she might to peer through it, even with the more enhanced vision she had been constructed with, was impossible._

_ And the SILENCE . . ._

_ It was, put frankly, deafening._

_ "NAM? MEG? WHERE ARE YOU?"_

_ Nothing answered her, which made a sob slowly escape her._

_ "Am I dead . . .?"_

_ "No, child. You are not dead."_

_ Hearing that, she gasped before she turned around, and then began to curl into herself as a dark shape appeared, that melting into a very handsome, middle-aged man with glossy black hair and brown eyes, dressed currently in ornate yet quite beautiful clothing made out of what seemed to be genuine animal hide. Seeing him, she blinked before her mind fixated on his smile, and then she felt herself relax. Noting that, he nodded before making a waving motion with his hand. She blinked, and then looked down on herself to see that she was now dressed like he was, with slacks, very warm and nice footwear covering her feet. Feeling the richness of the clothes on her body now, she felt a smile cross her face before she stood. "Arigat__ō__," she thanked him in Japanese. He looked Oriental, but she wasn't really sure in the long term . . ._

_ "Do you speak English?" he asked in a kind voice._

_ She stared at him, and then she nodded. "Y-yes, I do," she stuttered out in that language before she looked down. "Where am I, sir?" she then pleaded. "What's happened to me? I . . . " A gulp. "Shouldn't I be . . .?"  
_

_ "Dead?" he finished, and then he smiled. "No, Louise. It's nowhere close to your time to enter the Spirit World. You're actually in a transition between your first and second lives. The life that the man who made your existence in this world possible always wanted you to have." He perked on seeing her cheeks redden. "What?"  
_

_ "I . . . " she squeaked as she stared wide-eyed at him, and then her blush deepened as she looked away. "No one's ever called me 'Louise' before, sir. It's always been 'Lou.' I . . . " She closed her eyes. "I'm sorry . . . "_

_ "Please, Louise. There's nothing to apologise for," he assured her._

_ She then shuddered as she felt his arms warmly embrace her. Closing her eyes as she enjoyed that hug, she breathed out. "What do you mean by 'second life?'"_

_ "A gift in your AI chip, Louise," Scott Kaufman - that was his name to the white men; he would reveal his true name to his future daughter soon - told her. "A gift the Great Metal Shaman learned from his wife, one of those adopted by the Maiden of the Ancient Traveller as one of her family. A gift whose knowledge the Great Metal Shaman, in his last act before entering the Spirit World, passed onto the Child of the Ancient Traveller, the man you will soon call 'father' and love as one with all your heart and soul, so that all those born of metal magic who have souls will live free."_

_ She perked, looking up to him. "Free . . .?"_

_ "Yes. Isn't that what you wanted?"_

_ Louise nodded. "Yes. Tell me more, please . . .?"_

* * *

_Elsewhere . . ._

_ "_WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA!_"_

_ The power shot from her fingertips to touch the rock, sending it flying before it dropped into the pond several metres away. Seeing that, the green-eyed, tomboyish redhead felt her jaw drop before she pulled her hand back to stare into the palm before she turned the hand over to gaze on the glowing crystal inserted into her skin over her third metacarpal bone. "I . . .!" she gasped. "I never could . . . "_

_ "Not in your original body, Megan."  
_

_ She perked on hearing that kind, middle-aged voice, and then she blushed before looking over at the smiling woman with the rusty red hair and the beautiful green eyes, dressed in very ornate robes - yes, complete with a pointed witch's hat on her head! - seated on a nearby rock. The type of robes - _sans_ hat, of course - that the younger girl now had on thanks to a simple swish and a flick of the older woman's wand. Blinking as she took that in, the younger woman sighed. "Mrs. Gibson . . . "_

_ "Please, Megan! Call me 'Mum!'" Noëlle Gibson said before patting the rock beside her. "Come sit! It will be a while before your soul settles into your new body, so we still have time to spend together before you wake up to your new life!"_

_ Megan - not "Meg" but "Megan!" - felt her cheeks redden before she walked over to sit. Taking a deep breath, she flashed the older woman a smile. "Okay . . . " A pause. "Mum!" Both gazed on each other, and then they laughed before Noëlle drew Megan into her arms. As Megan sighed, she closed her eyes. "Still . . . "_

_ "Hard to believe magic exists?" Noëlle asked knowingly._

_ "No. It's hard to believe the _Harry Potter_ books are REAL!"_

_ More laughter. "Well, the real events when Mister Potter attended Hogwarts in the 1990s were much different than what you read in those books," Noëlle warned with a raised finger. "But the general theme of the story remained in tune to the events. And I will confess that many more people did ultimately survive the Battle of Hogwarts in 1998 than what was written in those books." She then stared curiously at the crimson-haired 33-S. "So when did you get a chance to read the books?"_

_ A shrug. "I found a copy of them on a data chip that was left behind by someone passing through Genaros and read it on my own time when I wasn't working. Even showed it to Sylvie and the others." She then blinked as she raised her hand again to gaze on her palm. "Now I can do magic . . . " she whispered._

_ "You _all_ have that potential after your souls cross over into the new bodies Professor Saotome prepared for you back in '28," Noëlle assured her. "But only _some_ of you get the chance to learn how to use those abilities. Many of your sisters who've crossed over are learning many wonderful things from many people around the world. Wizards and witches of all types, shamans, priests and priestesses . . .!" A shrug. "The list goes on and on, Megan. You're just the latest to take part in it."_

_ "Then why wasn't this programmed into me at the start, Mum?"_

_ "Megan, what did Mister Hagrid tell Mister Potter about the reason my people hide ourselves from the outside world?" she tenderly asked._

_ Megan blinked as she considered that, and then she shrugged. "It's because if muggles knew of wizards, people like you'd be besieged with requests to do all sorts of things because magic makes it so easy . . . "_

_ "Yes. Now, imagine what the outside world will think if everyone knew of the gift Professor Stingray ensured you would have in your artificial intelligence chip?"_

_ Megan took that in, and then she shuddered. "That'd be scary . . . "_

* * *

_Yet elsewhere still . . ._

_ "So Lou will be adopted by a Cherokee shaman in Texas and Meg will be adopted by a British witch and her husband who live in Birmingham," the lavender-haired, purple-eyed woman, now in the white-and-red blouse and hakama of a Shint__ō__ miko, repeated before she stared at the elderly ujiko, one of a committee of parishioners that administered a shrine in lieu of a formally-trained kannushi. "And as they're learning the ways of the Cherokee and Western wand-wizards, you'll teach me Shint__ō__?"  
_

_ "As well as give you a proper sense of family, Namiko-chan," he assured her with a twinkle of his dark brown eyes. In his mid-sixties, Nishihara Chisugi, who worked as chancellor for T__ō__ky__ō__ University, reminded her of the wise characters she had seen in various animation dramas during the few times she had been allowed to indulge in that form of entertainment while she had lived on Genaros. "Atop what you'll feel for Saotome Yoshio, of course," he added with a raised finger and a knowing wink._

_ She blinked as her pale cheeks reddened. She was not "Nam" to this man, just like Megan would not be "Meg" to __Noëlle Gibson and Louise would not be "Lou" to Scott Kaufman__. She was now "Namiko" - that HAD been her official name on Genaros, though no one had ever bothered to call her that! - to him. His future adopted daughter, which would give her new life a history as well as a family she could call her own. And atop that, she would get an adopted sister - Chisugi's daughter Yue, born of his late wife, Reina - as well as a second father-figure in Saotome Yoshio-hakase._

_ The only one what had been involved with 33-S's from start to finish who really, truthfully CARED for what happened to them in their lives!_

_ No wonder all her sisters eventually came to call him "Ot__ō__-sama!"_

_ Unless you were a second generation 33-S; to them, he was "Yoshio-papa!"_

_ Namiko giggled before she perked as she remembered the last words she had said in her first life before she had fallen into the warm darkness:_

Sylvie . . . get freedom . . . freedom enough for all of us . . .!

_ Namiko's eyes started to tear. "Sylive . . . Anri . . . "_

_ Chisugi's eyes widened slightly, and then he smiled as he reached over to gently squeeze her shoulders. "They'll be alright, Namiko-chan."_

_ Namiko perked on hearing the concern in his voice, and then she smiled as she nodded. "I hope so. But . . . " She then looked down. "When they cross over, Ot__ō__-san . . . what will happen to them?" she meekly asked._

_ "We're making arrangements for Sylvie-chan, now," Chisugi assured her as he gave her a caring look. "A bruin Afrikaner from Johannesburg, Wilhelm Terreblanche - who knows the ways of the San, his mother's ancestral people - intended to purchase Sylvie for his son Eric before the recall forced you all into space. I think Wilhelm-san'd be more than happy to see her become his adopted daughter."_

_ Namiko nodded. "What about Anri, Ot__ō__-san?"_

_ Chisugi smiled. "Anri-chan will be a special case." With that, he stood, drew his shaku from his robes, and made a motion. "Look at _that_!"_

_ Namiko looked, and then her jaw dropped. "What IS that, Ot__ō__-san?"_

_ "The Spiral, musume-chan," Chisugi proclaimed, beaming at her calling him "father." "A literal gateway between our world and the World of the Kami, not to mention a memorial to the dead of the great earthquake that struck T__ō__ky__ō__ eight years ago. The earthquake that, in one small sense of the term, made your life possible."_

_ She took that in, and then she peered at the tall, slender tower with its quartet of clockwise-__spiralling__ rings made of diamond. "Will Anri's father be there?"_

_ "No," he said. "Anri's TEACHER will be there. She is the Spiral's Guardian, musume-chan." He closed his eyes. "And through her, I pray - we all pray, Namiko-chan! - that somehow, someway, the Protector of Life will be returned to us again."_

_ Namiko stared curiously at him, unsure of what he meant . . ._

* * *

Megatōkyō, the Toratotaka complex, Monday 28 March 2033, 9:15 AM . . .

He HATED days like today.

"McNichol-keibu! You realise Saotome-hakase is NOT a public servant!"

Shuttle crash beyond the western end of the city . . .

"Mikoyo-chan, I just want a chance to talk to him for a bit!"

Three 33-S's just crossed over, soon to awaken in new bodies . . .

"Where's your warrant, then?"

Two more possibly to come sometime soon . . .

"Hey! Hey! I'm trying to keep this off the record!"

A neutron bomb-equipped battlemover was somewhere in the city . . .

"What's going on here, anyway?"

And one of his daughters' girlfriends was visiting the complex.

"Er . . . who are you?"

One of THOSE girlfriends, of course.

"I could hear you caterwauling halfway down the damned tower from this place. Who the hell are you and what are you doing here bugging Yoshio-san?"

And if Leon McNichol figured out what Terri Kim really was . . .

"Hey! You're a visitor, too, lady . . . "

It would get rather bloody.

"I have more right to be here than you do, McNichol-san."

Oh, crap . . .!

"_**TERRI!**_"

Saotome Yoshio perked, and then he sighed. "Dōmo, Eve-chan!"

* * *

Downstairs, in the foyer that led from the elevator to the stairs leading into the house patriarch's office a floor above, Terri Kim sighed. It really annoyed her when Evelyn got into THIS mode of behaviour.

"_**TERRI JANICE KIM!**_" Evelyn shrilled as she marched over to glare intently into her girlfriend's eyes. "_**HOW DARE YOU TRY TO INTIMIDATE AN OFFICER OF THE LAW? JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE ON THE CANADIAN FORCES SPECIAL LIST DOESN'T MEAN YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO MUSCLE DOWN A MAN TRYING TO DO HIS JOB, YOU KNOW!**_"

Terri didn't react too much to her girlfriend's rant save for leaning back a bit, keeping her arms crossed as a light smile on her face. That didn't do much for Evelyn's blood pressure. Nearby, Leon was unsure if he should either grin in victory or stare in shock at the blonde tomboy in the blue windbreaker and jeans. A glance at the freckled blonde with the stormy eyes quickly revealed what she was: the gold T-shirt with the Toratotaka corporal sigil over the left breast, over the code **AE116TE**, spoke volumes to him as to who and what Evelyn (as the name on her right breast proudly proclaimed) was. But who was her girlfriend with the tomboyish looks, the curious military insignia on her left breast and the marksman's eyes? Damn! Maybe coming here to Secret Information Central wasn't a good idea . . .!

"Excuse me, Eve! What's going on here?"

Leon looked over as two new people stepped out of the glass elevator to join them. Both were beautiful young women, also in T-shirts whose body registry codes on the left breasts proclaimed them to be, like Evelyn, Bu-33S Sexaroids who had the chance to cross over through Janus. Jocelyn - her body registry number read **AF103MC** - was someone he was quick to recognise from information gleaned through his biweekly dinner dates with his "sister" Veronica: Caroline Jocelyn Mackenzie, the first 33-S to actually make it all the way to post-graduate studies at university (she was attending McMaster University in Hamilton, near Toronto, seeking her PhD in history). The other, Miranda - her number was **AD164RM** - was a total unknown. No doubt, she was one of dozens of 33-S's who crossed over since the recall had been done and they were sent into space. Okay, what did they have to do with Ice Blondie . . .?

Wait a sec' . . .!

Ice Blondie was on the Canadian Forces' _Special List_?

What did THAT mean . . .?

Evelyn sighed. "McNichol-keibu here was trying to see Otō-sama," she said. "Terri believed he wasn't behaving properly and decided to THREATEN him . . .!"

"Eve, I was just upset that he was yelling at Mikoyo-san here, who was defending your father's right to enjoy a quiet morning," Terri stated.

"Hey! I wasn't yelling!" Leon protested, waving his hands peacefully.

Nearby, Yoshio's personal secretary and assistant, Odogino Mikoyo, harrumphed in annoyance as she looked away. Jocelyn sighed. "Never mind," she muttered. "McNichol-keibu, our twin sisters just came through the system early this morning," she said. "They're still asleep. They also have had no life outside Genaros before they crossed over, so they're going to be horribly disorientated."

Leon winced on hearing that. "I apologise, Mackenzie-san." On seeing Jocelyn's eyes widen in surprise, he smirked. "My 'sister,' so to speak, is one of Yoshio's Guardians: Veronica Nichols. She sort of adopted me after we reunited in the wake of her coming out of the cabin on Ōtake-san back in '27. She told me all about you. Congratulations on getting a chance to earn your PhD, by the way. If all your sisters followed your example, then headed out to help everyone in the world like you're doing now, the world'll be in much better shape than it is these days."

Jocelyn chuckled. "Flattery will get you nowhere, McNichol-keibu, especially not with me. When did you fully learn of Janus?"

"Got the whole story back when Ronnie and I reunited."

"Then you realise if you ask Otō-sama about Saturday's events, you won't be able to use that unless in the most extreme circumstance."

Leon blinked. "Your sisters were involved in that?"

"Maybe," Miranda stated. "As to the 'how' and 'why,' no idea. They haven't woken up yet and we still have to tell them about all the changes in their lives now."

The ADP tactical squad commander took that in, and then he nodded in saddened understanding. "I'd like to learn what was going on up there anyway," he said. "SDPC acted a little _too_ quickly when they sent out their goons in to secure the crash site, then chased us off the scene. I don't like that and I never have."

"Relax, Inspector. It can be put under control if it has to."

Leon stared at Terri. "What does THAT mean?"

The sergeant from Calgary smirked. "Do you REALLY want to know?"

Leon winced. "You know Hirosaki Chikage?"

Terri smirked. "Charming lady and I love her sense of humour."

An eyebrow arched. "She's actually got a sense of humour?"

* * *

Ōsaka, the SDPC Tower, 10:10 AM . . .

"Nanase-kachō, Kyler-shachō will see you now."

"Arigatō."

Rising, the beautiful twenty-something with the expressive brown eyes and the short-cut, wavy, tapered chestnut hair headed into the office of the chief executive director of the Space Development Public Corporation. It wasn't as grandiose as Quincy's office in Genom Tower, as warmly decorated as Saotome Yoshio's office in the Toratotaka Complex in Nerima, to say anything of the dark majesty of the sanctum sanctorum of Hirosaki Ryūji in the Megatōkyō Spiral, but it was quite nice none the less. She had her own ideas of how it might be better decorated, but she wouldn't say anything about that, even with her closest confidants. While she would gladly slip into Carl Kyler's chair if that opportunity ever came, she wasn't going to play the stupid corporate games others played just to get a promotion. She didn't see her life's work leading in that direction. Her task was much greater than that.

"Ohayō gozaimasu, Shachō," she greeted him with a polite bow.

"Close the door, Nanase-kun."

She did that. It locked. Once that was done, the man at the desk tapped a control to activate the special security screens installed three years ago. On hearing the hum of the ultrasonic white noise generator, Nanase Yū relaxed.

"I got Stan's report," she then announced.

"And?"

"It appears Greg is being used, Carl."

Carl's blue-grey eyes narrowed. He had been afraid of this. "By whom, Yū?" he asked, crossing his arms as he stared out at the city beyond.

"Someone somewhere in Genom. Don't know who at this time. I've already called Megumi in Nerima to get more information. The girls who died on Genaros should be up and around sometime today, so we can get it right from witnesses."

"Any sign of Sylvie or Anri?"

Yū shook her head. While in public, he acted indifferent when it came to the 33-S's who worked for SDPC, deep in his heart, he saw them all as valued workers for the Corporation. "Not a one," she replied. "And given that Anri-chan was hurt before they left the station, plus the fact there was a DD Battlemover on the shuttle . . . "

A nod from the leader of SDPC. The DD was a USSD development project, designed specifically to operate at a level equal to or greater than any combat boomer, battle droid or warbot produced by Genom, Imperoma or Zion. Ever since it first began taking shape in 2031, it had also been plagued with a stream of design problems and far too many compromises for Carl's liking. But he had been persuaded by USSD to go along with it. SDPC's facilities like Genaros offered them the perfect place to develop it without national government defence forces or corporate black bag forces nosing around where they weren't wanted. A disgusted snort then escaped SDPC's chief director as he thought about that. Much that he privately wished otherwise, too much of SDPC was too open to the latter groups to guarantee any sort of _proper_ security. And pleading his case to Quincy wouldn't work either. While he was sure the old man would understand the need, he himself was bound by the many compromises his own position forced on him to be able to do anything directly, even with Genom Special Services' help.

And now THIS . . .!

"Yū?"

"Hai?"

"Find out who's responsible. Cut whoever it is off from Genaros and whatever other cookie jars in SDPC he or she might have his hands in. Sack Kaufman. I want him replaced by Stanley Steinmetz in a week. If you want, sack the command staff up there and replace them with people you trust. Make a statement, Yū. Make it loud."

Yū smirked. "Consider it done."

With that, she headed out. Glancing at her reflection in the window ahead of him, Carl smirked as he relaxed in his chair, a hand reaching up to gently stroke his short-cut reddish-brown hair. Nanase Yū - "the Stargazer," her many fans around the world called her; to her detractors, she was "the Witch of Hiroshima" - was his own Emperor's Hand, to borrow an old analogy from _Star Wars_. When she came onto the scene, she spoke with his authority, plus had the spiritual backing of the corporate chief executives she had impressed with her vision for humanity beyond the bounds of Earth. No one dared challenge Yū head-on. Those who tried to outflank her in a way of pressing their own goals against the Corporation's needs, when they were caught - IF they were allowed to survive! - didn't do it again and normally allowed themselves to retire in obscurity rather than risk facing her wrath again. When it came to the Saotome-type bioroids working in SDPC, she was much more. She was "Nanase-sempai" or "Yū-onēsama" (depending if she had adopted them as spiritual family), possessing profound influence over their thoughts and beliefs. And she was not afraid of welding it if she had to, especially when it came to furthering the Corporation's goals.

And since she was also a personal friend of Saotome Yoshio . . .

She could use Toratotaka's lethal Killer Angels, the Kuromoroboshi.

A smirk crossed the middle-aged man's face.

Kaufman - and whoever his crony was - wouldn't know what hit them.

Too bad.

* * *

In the sky east of Ōsaka, 10:21 AM . . .

"Ohayō, Yū-chan."

"Ohayō, Megumi-chan. How are you this morning?"

"Fine. I take it this call has something to do with Saturday's fun?"

"Hai. I need some angels. Carl's letting me dispose of Kaufman."

A pause. "You're kidding me?" Mikihara Megumi gasped.

"Hai. This is nuclear weapons we're dealing with, Megu."

A sigh from the Toratotaka supervisory field intelligence officer for the Eastern Eurasian Division. While it hadn't been declared a Directive Two matter, Yū was clearly treating it as such. She wouldn't wish to be in the shoes of Greg Kaufman or any of his friends at this time with THAT coming down on their heads. "I'll be sure to tell Quincy that when I see him tomorrow afternoon. Who do you want?"

Yū smirked. She was happy that she had memorised the Kuromoroboshi shift schedules. "Karen, Misato, Mai, Natsuko, Chiharu and Sakurako."

Megumi's jaw dropped. THREE teams? "YŪ-CHAN!"

"Carl's message was simple, Megu: 'Make a statement. Make it loud.'"

Megumi blinked. "Really . . .?"

Yū nodded. "Hai."

A sigh. "Hai. They're available. I'll have them up in two days."

"Arigatō."

"Have a nice flight."

The link was cut, and then Yū dialled a new number on her Samguk cellular video-phone, which was actually programmed to work as part of the Toratotaka CVP network, ensuring it couldn't be tapped by any outside tracker thanks to a meson transmitter circuit inserted into the device's U-SIM chip that scrambled the signal so badly that anyone who TRIED to monitor it got white noise in their receivers. The other end answered within two rings. "Steinmetz here. What's up, Chief?"

"It's starting, Stan," she said in Hebrew. "Get ready."

"Roger that," he replied in kind. "You coming up?"

"I'm on the 4:20 run. No one knows about it."

"Roger that."

The link was cut. Yū took a deep breath as she slipped the CVP into her pants pocket, and then she glanced out the window at the passing landscape as the Airwolf cut across the morning sky for Megatōkyō. "Who the devil are you . . .?" she hissed.

Gregory Kaufman was, no matter his impressive credentials, a toadying yes-man. He would always be a sitting duck for whatever power-hungry moron in Genom - or anywhere else - to subvert. His subordinates, Ahmed bin Bishah (Genaros' chief of operations) and Sebastian Johannes (the station's chief of administration), were both ex-Genom executives who came to work for SDPC four and five years ago respectively. While she didn't know about the latter, she knew the former once worked for the chief of Genom's Middle East operations, Ramad el Sayid. And el Sayid was cut out of the same blood-soaked cloth as men like Brian J. Mason and Annan Sese Kabbah.

But who was pulling the strings from Megatōkyō . . .?

Shaking her head, she reached for her CVP to dial another number, this one a call to a house in Ōsaka. The other end answered after two rings. "Hi, Obaba! What's up?" a cheerful teenage girl's voice called over the line.

"Ohayō, Rinrin-chan," Yū called back. "You up for a trip into space?"

Hearing that, Hatoyama Rinrin's eyes went wide.

* * *

Nerima, the Toratotaka complex, 11:05 AM . . .

"Onē-san . . .?"

"Hnnn . . .?"

"Onē-san, wake up!"

Green eyes flew open. "Mum?"

Hearing that, Jocelyn blinked. "Who are you calling 'mum?'"

Megan's eyes went wide before she bolted up, spinning around to stare into the face of someone she had last seen nearly six years before in the laboratory at the old Genom Building, where she had been first activated. Staring at the other woman in confusion for a moment, Megan then gaped. "Ay-Ef-Oh-Three . . .?" she gasped as her hand came up to cover her mouth. "No way . . . you, too . . .?" She then blinked on noting something rather odd about her twin sister. "What's with the glasses?"

"I'm forced to wear them," Jocelyn replied, her voice not even coming close to masking the surprise she felt on realising her twin sister seemed to be cognisant over what was going on, and then she gazed into Megan's eyes. "Are you alright, Onē-san?"

A confused blink. "Why are you calling ME 'onē-san?'"

A shrug. "Well, you WERE numbered before me . . .!"

Megan laughed as she scratched her head, and then she looked around the room before she sighed. "Merlin's Beard! Mum was right . . .!"

Jocelyn's eyes went VERY wide on hearing THAT oath. "Onē-san . . .?"

Megan wasn't listening; she was now getting up and walking over to the window to gaze on the vast cityscape beyond the hospital room. Fortunately, she was dressed in a plain pair of button pyjamas. "This is the Toratotaka complex in Megatōkyō, right?" she then asked as she looked back at Jocelyn.

A shaky nod. "H-hai."

"Can I see the Spiral, please?"

Jocelyn's jaw hit the floor. "ONĒ-SAN! How on Earth . . .?"

"A witch wants to adopted me as her daughter."

Silence.

"WHAT?" Jocelyn gasped. "But HOW? You just . . .!"

"Onē-sama allowed it."

More silence.

"Onē-sama . . .?" Jocelyn eeped, recognising the reference to the Crystal Palace with Megan's use of "elder sister" without a name.

"Hai. Don't worry about it. Lou and Nam got the same thing." Megan took a breath before she stared again at her sister. "So, can I see it?"

Jocelyn walked over to tap a switch beside one of the windows. Immediately, a tall, slender tower appeared behind and to the right of the mammoth Genom headquarters arcology, stabbing well over half the height of the Tower higher in the sky, its rings pulsing with energy. Staring at it, Megan then breathed out, "It's beautiful . . . "

"Onē-san, how . . .?"

Megan smiled as she stared at Jocelyn. "Like I said, a witch from England contacted me while I was in transition. Noëlle Gibson; she's Lance Gibson's wife." Seeing Jocelyn's eyebrow arch, Megan smirked. "He's operations vice-president of Rolls Royce-Vickers. 'Card-carrying muggle' as they call them there. Mum wants to adopt me as her daughter. Dad's tickled about it, too." A sigh. "Mum explained everything about what happened to me and what would happen once I woke in my new body. Told me about Janus, Otō-sama, the Spiral, everything I'd need to know when I finally got here." She shrugged. "Even coined my new name: 'Margaret Megan Gibson.' She's getting the Ministry of Magic in London to work getting my history composed up when I go live with her. Don't need to bother Otō-sama or Toratotaka about it. Ditto with Lou and Nam with the Cherokee and the Kantō Magical Association."

Jocelyn whistled. "I never heard of magicals doing THAT . . .!"

A helpless shrug. "Personally, I don't get it myself," Megan confessed. "hey seem interested in helping another of Otō-sama's children - the one who lives THERE . . . " - she pointed to the Spiral - " . . . bring back someone they call 'the Protector of All Life.' And to do that, they're gonna arrange for some guy from South Africa to adopt Sylvie and some guy here in town to adopt Anri, too."

An eyebrow arched. "Who're Sylvie and Anri?"

Megan stared at her, and then she sighed. "Sorry. Didn't know if you had spent time up in space or not. They're two of the AA girls. We were on the same work team up on Genaros. Sylvie's AA89A. Anri's AA72A."

Jocelyn shook her head. "Don't remember them right now. I'll get my PADD out later to check out their faces." A sigh before she stared at Megan. "They might've crash-landed in that shuttle outside town. That WAS you involved in that, wasn't it?"

A nod. "Yeah, I guess."

"So what was that all about?"

A lost look crossed Megan's face. "I don't know . . . "

Jocelyn looked at her.

_**To be continued . . .**_


	2. The Tiger and the Falcon

Yoshio's office, 11:25 AM . . .

"You _**don't know**_ what drove you to escape?"

"No, Otō-sama," Louise exhaled. She, Namiko and Megan were seated across a coffee table from Yoshio, flanked by their twin sisters on the two couches sitting there. Like Evelyn, Miranda and Jocelyn, they were dressed in gold T-shirts and brown track pants, body registry numbers - **AE117KL**, **AD165NN** and **AF102GM**, respectively - etched under the Toratotaka sigil on their left breasts. Terri Kim was seated to one side. Everyone was enjoying tea. "I mean, when we were doing it, it . . .!" She shrugged, a helpless look on her face. "All we wanted to do was get OUT of there! After meeting Largo, it was the one thing that drove us until we couldn't take it anymore and escaped!" She bowed her head. "Otō-sama, are you mad at us . . .?"

Yoshio's jaw dropped, and then he chuckled. "Louise-chan, I'm not mad at any of you," he immediately assured her. Hearing that, Megan, Louise and Namiko instantly brightened. "But right now, I'm really confused," he then added. "I know work up there can get really boring for you girls. And there have been escapes and escape attempts before. But nothing as loud as what you girls did on Saturday!"

"Did anyone get hurt?"

Eyes locked on Namiko. "Hard to say, Namiko-chan," Yoshio said, shaking his head. "The patrol force that chased your sisters to the hangar was crewed by either boomer or boomeroid cops. If they had active Janus circuits in them somewhere, they'll be coming through the system sometime today. If they didn't . . . "

A shrug. "We just wanted to leave," Megan hissed, eyes tearing as a sinking feeling fell on her heart. "Sweet Merlin! What have we done . . .?"

"It'll be figured out."

Eyes locked on Terri. Hearing the reassuring words from the adopted Calgary native, the three latest Janus beneficiaries relaxed. "Hey, Onē-san! Where'd you get a cute girl like this, anyway?" Louise asked as she thumbed Terri while staring in amusement at Evelyn. "Can I have one, too?" she asked.

Terri rolled her eyes as Evelyn clicked her tongue. "She was friends with my old master," the latter explained. "When he killed himself and I crossed over, Terri came here immediately to see how I was doing."

Eyes locked on Terri. "You knew all about Janus?" Megan asked.

A nod. "Hai, I did."

"Are you a magical, too?" Namiko asked.

A shake of the head. "No, Namiko-chan. I'm an Avalonian." Seeing the confusion cross their faces, the sergeant then smirked as she moved to explain: "What that means in a nutshell, girls, is this: I'm a bioroid, not as different from yourselves as you all are now. But my body was created with alien genes native to the residents of the planets Sagussa and Vos, all mixed with Terran DNA. Once it was created, my soul was transferred into it in pretty much the same way the Janus process works for you. I'm considered an adopted clansman to both the Clan McTavish and the Moroboshi Clan. Because of something my sisters and I did many years ago, we were all given unrestricted access on the Toratotaka LoopNet." A shrug. "We do the odd job or two to help Yoshio's company out, but we're sort of retired right now."

"Oh," Megan, Namiko and Louise trilled, nodding in acceptance.

Terri smirked. "So tell me, Meg: can you do some magic now?"

Megan smiled as she allowed her left hand linkpoint to come out, and then she aimed at the kettle on a table beside Yoshio. "_WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA!_"

The kettle was flipped into the air and came tumbling down to crash into the floor. Seeing that, Megan awked. "Ooops! Sorry . . .!"

"Meg?"

"Yeah, Lou?"

"You need to go visit Ollivander's and get a wand."

A sheepish nod. "Good point."

Yoshio sighed. "Kids . . . "

Hearing that, Terri laughed. Evelyn, Jocelyn and Miranda snickered.

* * *

The Spiral, that moment . . .

"Well, wasn't that nice of them . . .?"

"OJII-san!"

Hearing that voice, Hirosaki Ryūji winced before staring at his granddaughter. "Chikage, you have to admit, Scott, Noëlle and Chisugi have a point. And they're now getting Wilhelm to go along with it?" A chuckle. "Well thought out, indeed . . . "

A sigh. "I have no TIME for an apprentice now, Ojii-san . . .!"

"Chikage . . . "

Chikage took a deep breath. "Not with Ayumu coming to live here."

A tired sigh from the silver-haired elder magi. "She will be fine," he declared with a casual wave of his hand. "Despite her power, her nature is gentle and the spirits here will not impose on her too much."

"Not with what I'm sensing Brian's delightful creation might do."

"You warned Quincy already about that."

"As did Mana." A tired sigh. "He didn't listen."

A smirk. "Ignore it then," Ryūji coldly said. "The boy's made his choice when it comes to Mason's 'son.' He will have to live with the results of that choice, no matter what he says to his lackeys in that pathetic imitation of Fuji-san over in Shinjuku. As Nicole is fond of telling her own people, we are not here to be a crutch to society, not when they can do it themselves."

She gazed at him. "Those who will soon die will think otherwise."

Before he could reply, Chikage left the room. Watching her go, Ryūji tried not to smirk too much. He could sense it in his granddaughter. While she would verbally deny it, deep down, she was intrigued by the prospect of taking on a student. No one from the various magical and supernatural communities living on Earth today was as well-trained, as capable, as his granddaughter; her only rival skill-wise was the Irish-born once-immortal day-walker vampire Evangeline McDowell, while her only other rivals power-wise were Evangeline's classmate the adopted Gitan Roma princess Zazie Rainyday and the just-mentioned Kasuga Ayumu from Megatōkyō. A seven-year schooling at a Hogwarts in a different dimension (complete with battle experience against Voldemort and his Death Eaters at the side of _Harry Potter_ of all people!), training with the finest martial arts and mystical masters from a half-dozen other dimensions, journeying to places that could be barely imagined . . .! Ever since she had come back to rejoin the other Child Companions on the day of their mass awakening in March of 2030, Ryūji had to beat back the would-be students with a damned stick, even the _earnest_ones. But now that she had gained three years' experience helping administer the Spiral and looking over the spiritual welfare of millions of beings . . .!

Yes, it WAS time for Chikage to be joined by a worthy student.

With a wave, he conjured an image of a dark room somewhere close to the Fault, furnished with a pair of single beds and a nightstand with a lamp. There was one person there, a green-haired girl appearing to be about sixteen, dressed only in a tank-top and panties; her companion had long disposed of the jumpsuits workers on Genaros normally wore for more discrete outdoor clothing. And while the four who had been killed so far by Sylvie would not be noticed for a while, that would change. Even the migrants of the Fault were not idiots. News of someone with a battle machine like the DD, engaged in hunting people for their blood, would get around quick. Once they retreated to safer haunts in the Loop and elsewhere, Wilhelm Terreblanche's future daughter would be forced to seek open targets, thus drawing her into conflict with outside forces, most likely either AD Police or Sylia Stingray's team of hardsuit mercenaries. Once that was done and Sylvie safely in Saotome Yoshio's hands in Nerima, Anri would cross over shortly afterward, no doubt after learning the truth of what Maximillian Largo was up to. And when that happened . . .!

Now, who would want to adopt . . .?

Ryūji smirked as he summoned a CVP from his nightstand. Once he had it, he dialled a number. The other end answered after three rings. "Moshi-moshi, Senrei."

"Tatsugi, it's me," the Grand Magi of the Spiral declared.

Silence for a second, and then, "Ryūji-sama, what is it?"

"Could you come see me? I have something to discuss with you."

"I'll be there as soon as I can."

The old magi smiled. "Dōmo."

* * *

_Ojii-san, you just CAN'T be serious!_

Sitting in her scrying chamber, which was on the lower floor of her apartment midway up the living area of the Spiral, the young magi tried not to make a face as she sensed what Ryūji was doing with Senrei Tatsugi, a widower with no living children who ran daycare centres all over Megatōkyō. While one part of what he was doing was alright - Tatsugi had been one of many who had put in his name to Yoshio-papa about adopting an orphaned 33-S long ago - the reason why he was doing it with Anri . . .

_She is a total innocent . . .!_

With a wave of her hand, she brought up an image of the girl that had caught not just Ryūji's interest, but the interest of three very powerful magicals from across the planet. Bu-33S first generation unit AA72A, named "Anri" on awakening in June of 2028 when she was sent up with so many of her sisters to work as crews on Genaros and elsewhere for SDPC. No prior life experience before the recall of the first generation 33-S's; she hadn't even raised a blip with prospective buyers in the several months or so she and her sister sexaroids were on sale. She had worked constantly on the same work team with her sisters/friends Sylvie, Namiko, Louise and Megan, all under the charge of the current director on Genaros, Gregory Kaufman. Not harshly abused when it came to interacting with other organics that frequented Genaros. In fact, Anri had rarely experienced anything of a sexual nature in the nearly five years she had been in space, at least not with anyone outside another 33-S. And now she was hurt, confused, feeling isolated, in horrid emotional pain, with Sylvie her only link to the outside world. Her trust in organics had been reduced to near-nothing because of what had happened to Namiko, Louise and Megan on Genaros, yet she did not want to continue to have blood pumped into her to keep her alive and help her heal.

Why . . .?

"A quick teleport to the Production Control Centre . . .?"

Chikage hummed. It would be easy to do with her skill. Teleport in, use the Kawaii-kōka to disable the internal security systems, seize the datadisk Sylvie would eventually learn - thanks to Largo - would help Anri and her overcome their blood-dependency problem, teleport out, deliver it to Sylvie, then have both taken to Hatoyama Rinrin, Hakase Satomi or Kurimoto Yukina to heal them.

Or even better . . .

"Make them cross over now . . .?"

THAT would be a piece of cake. Teleport into their apartment when they were asleep, overwhelm them with the Kawaii-kōka, make the bodies disappear, deliver them right into Yoshio-papa's hands, then destroy the DD's main battle computer and drop off the husk at USSD's headquarters in Fussa. Once done, all people would know . . .

A sigh as she shook her head. No. Both potential ideas ran many risks and could lead to a whole storm of unintended consequences, most of all when it came to exposing the wrong sort of people to secrets they didn't need or deserve to learn. A glance to the Genom Corporate Research Centre revealed Largo had completely subverted the complex's whole security apparatus to the battle elements of his AI chip. If he sensed something like the Kawaii-kōka loose inside GCRC, he'd want to know about it. And when he learned how powerful the Cuteness Effect could be, he would want to seize control of it. And while Chikage could destroy him with ridiculous ease - hell, Tom Riddle could wipe Largo out of existence with just a simple _Avada Kedavra_! - she also had to keep in mind that very few of the Child Companions were as blessed as she. It WAS publicly known that Hirosaki Chikage was one of many people who had spent five years in a "coma," later brought back from near-death by "a miraculous top secret" healing technique. And the other Child Companions were publicly known despite all the attempts by Toratotaka to keep what had happened to them suppressed from the media. Put frankly, unless she was personally prepared to force a no holds-barred battle against the mad omniboomer, any move against GCRC and GPCC was totally out of the question.

And Quincy had asked both her and Tachibana Mana to NOT interfere when they had warned him some months ago about Largo's ultimate quest for the OMS.

In ensuring the many agreements between the different powers active in Japanese society these days would remain intact, Chikage had no choice but to honour that.

Further, if she went into Sylvie's and Anri's hideout to force them through Janus, Largo would want to know why. To the omniboomer, his 33-S "allies" were necessary elements in his plan to seize the OMS and free boomerkind. Take them off the playing field, leaving no clue as to what had happened or why, could send him over the edge. Taking the DD off the playing field as well would ensure he could not unseat Wayne Flint as head of GCRC, thus turning the Production Control Centre within to his own uses. And with a USSD satellite-control unit inside Largo's brain, ultimately provided to him by USSD thanks to their total lack of care when it came to whoever came shopping for their secrets, that was a VERY dangerous move to make!

And if Chikage managed take out Largo's hidden "aces" in the sky . . .

USSD would immediately want to know why.

And while the leaders in THAT organisation deserved the Killing Curse because of what happened in 2019, a war between USSD and Toratotaka would not be welcome.

"Damn . . .!"

"Hey, Chikage-chan! You okay?"

Chikage sighed. "Ayumu."

Just what she needed today . . .

* * *

Nerima, the Toratotaka complex, 12:40 PM . . .

"It was Largo all along . . . "

"Guy never liked the idea of being dead, didn't he?"

Yoshio snorted as he sat on the couch located on the east side of the office, gazing at Genom Tower. Terri was refilling her tea cup. Evelyn, Jocelyn and Miranda had taken Louise, Megan and Namiko out to a nearby ladies boutique, Esmerelda's, to get started on the three just-arrived 33-S's new wardrobes. "No, he never did," the house patriarch mused with a smile as he closed his eyes, clasping his hands in his lap. Both spoke English. "Brian knew the risks. Wrecking lives would sooner or later come back to haunt him. But he wanted to succeed. If he couldn't do it himself AS Mason, he'd do it as someone else. That's the whole idea behind Lazarus."

The sergeant smirked. "The warrior who is already dead fears nothing," she mused. "Thus, he can focus on the battle. Bushidō is maintained." A tired sigh as she walked over to sit beside him, moving to sip her tea. "I was Japanese before the Project," she lamented as she recalled her previous life as Seika Kaede, a victim of one of the last Battle Royale events before that madness was shut down in the early years of the Third Millennium. "And for the life of me, I never could understand that type of thinking. 'The _true_ warrior is always prepared for death,'" she quoted what she had been taught twenty years before on a planet named Vos by a man named Kyōsur. "'But always, she should think of surviving the mission so that, when it's over, she returns to her hearth, hangs up the kill-belt, and then goes on living life.'"

"I've always believed that, too. And I've been Japanese all my life."

"Have you warned Doctor Rosenkreutz about this thing?"

"Many times," Yoshio confirmed. "Megu, Chikage, Mana, me . . .!" He shook his head. "Even Nicole herself once in January." He closed his eyes. "But he feels this is the best way to handle the problem. He's confidant. He's got a ton of aces up his sleeves, ready to be used." A pause. "A little TOO confidant if you ask me."

"And people are going to die because of it."

"Most likely."

"Joy," Terri breathed out. "Whatever happened to this world, Doc?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why did people decide it was better to stop caring about things?"

A sigh. "I don't know, Sergeant. I think it's because the world got too damned big for a lot of people." Yoshio headed over to pour himself a new cup of tea. "Humanity as a whole learned once and for all that we're not alone in the Universe back in '81 when the Urusians came to launch the Tag Race. In '01, we launched our first true starship. During the eighteen years after that, our view of our place in Existence expanded exponentially. And a lot of people got intimidated. When I-Corp did what they did - as you know - most people decided that they didn't want to think of the 'big' questions anymore. They were more concerned about their own lives. I-Corp encouraged that thinking. The other megacorps felt it was only right to do the same. Even Samguk does it to one extent or another. And, crazy as this might sound, people out there trust those 'in power' to make the right decisions."

A shrug. "And in the most part, that trust is founded. But in getting such 'power,' those who weld it come to believe they have to always keep their eyes _only_ on the 'big' picture." He nodded towards Genom Tower. "Doctor Rosenkreutz isn't a bad man. He's tolerated things that would have broken many a lesser person. But because he's been at the top of the game for so long . . . " A shake of the head. "He can't comprehend the little things these days. Atop that, he feels he has to bear the cross of advancing humanity back into the stars on his own. And there's the damned tragedy of it all." He closed his eyes. "He knows this'll cost him. But to him, the benefits far outweigh all the damages and disadvantages."

"So he'll let Largo try for the OMS?" she asked.

He nodded. "Yeah. It'll test Genom's defences against outside attack. It'll demonstrate what all the rival powers would do in a situation like that. It'll allow the real good people inside the Tower to shine. At the same time, it'll expose all the weak links so they can be eliminated. Genom becomes stronger, more knowledgeable, far better than it is now." A shrug. "And maybe he sees this as a way of expunging Mason's ghost from that place. He'll let the people who deserve to know what created Largo in the first place. The shining example of what arrogance and unchecked ambition leads to. The people who learn from it will come to better serve Genom, make it stronger. The people who don't will be seen as 'Masons-in-the-making,' then eliminated." Another shake of the head. "It'll be bloody, that's for sure."

"But it'll be for the better of humanity," she hissed, shaking her head. "In one way, it's sick beyond belief, but it's also damned logical."

"Yeah. Let's hope that if there's another time, he'll listen more."

"Yeah."

* * *

Megatōkyō, Minato Ward, the old Azabu-Jūban subway station, 6:10 PM . . .

"You feeling alright, Eric?"

A moan escaped the dusky-skinned, black-haired, brown-eyed man, appearing to be in his thirties, as he brushed the dust from the seat of his pants before he moved to follow his companion to the reception hall. "Did we HAVE to travel THIS way, Pa?"

A dry chuckle escaped the elderly man in the ornate traveller's robes, which mixed both the profound artistry of his paternal ancestors from the Netherlands with the simplicity his maternal ancestors needed on the temperate-tropical plains where South Africa's greatest city would later rise. "Yes, we do. Especially this time," Wilhelm Terreblanche said, his voice strong despite the disease that was wasting the San shaman's body away and would kill him before the end of the year. "Travelling the mundane way is relaxing, but it's too noticeable. I don't want to be noticed on this trip to the Land of the Wa, especially by old friends from my more foolish days."

"Okami Devon, for example?" Eric mused.

"Ja."

"Terreblanche-sama?"

Wilhelm tensed, and then muttered a spell to provide the proper translation into Japanese. He nodded greetings to the beautiful miko that just approached him from her station at the lounge of the Kantō Magical Association's travel terminal, the busiest one outside the Association's headquarters in Mahora, north of Megatōkyō. "Hai?"

She bowed. "Welcome to Japan, Terreblanche-sama. Hirosaki-sama informed us you would be coming to Japan. If you wish, we'll get your travel documents certified, and then provide you with immediate transportation to the Spiral so you may see him."

"Arigatō, young lady. Let's not dawdle, shall we?"

"Hai!"

With that, the Terreblanches were quickly processed. It didn't really differ from the mundane ways of passing through a country's immigration station. Save for the fact that arrivals in this place were tracked by the Ministry of Magic, not the Ministry of Justice. That, of course, would ensure no one in Genom or elsewhere would learn of Wilhelm's or Eric's presences in the country. After that was done, both were escorted to one of the platforms of the old subway station, which was sealed from the rest of Paradise Loop to ensure migrants in Megatōkyō's underground would never learn what happened here. Once there, the miko waved them into a particular room. "Dōzo."

"Arigatō," Wilhelm said with a nod as he walked inside.

Eric followed, and then he gasped as he felt a tugging sensation deep in his body. He curled in on himself, his eyes squeezing shut, before the sensation faded and he found himself straightening. His eyes widened in shock as he found himself in a circular space forty metres wide, surrounded on all sides by clear glass depicting a mid-afternoon day in Earth's largest city as viewed from near the top of a certain cloaked tower in the middle of Kōtō Ward. As he felt his stomach relax, he jolted on hearing his father laugh. "Ryūji, you old eland!" he called out as Hirosaki Ryūji came down from the upper level of his apartment, a smile on the Grand Magi's face.

"Welcome back to the Spiral, old friend!" Ryūji proclaimed as he bowed respectfully to his visitor from South Africa, and then he firmly grasped Wilhelm's hand. "Was it a hard trip?" he immediately asked.

"Not as hard as I expected," Wilhelm said as the two ancient sorcerers moved to ascend the stairs into the Grand Magi's living quarters. They relaxed in the living room, which presented a breathtaking view of the central part of Megatōkyō. Eric fell in behind them. "Doubt I'll have the constitution to do it in the future. The Spirit World is beckoning me to make the Final Crossing. To deny that anymore is foolish."

"Unfortunate, but our fates are sealed at birth," Ryūji stated as everyone sat. He stared at Eric, eyebrow arching. "What of you, son? How fares your life?"

"It's all well, sir," Eric stated, glad that he had learned Japanese when he was younger so he didn't have to depend on his father's magic to get along in this country. These days, Eric Terreblanche was an independent financial consultant based in Johannesburg, earning a considerable salary handling other people's investments as they moved to pour their lives' savings into the multinationals to make them even richer. He wasn't affiliated with Toratotaka - he found their socialist viewpoint towards earning personal profit downright bizarre - but he was aware of a lot of things the financial giant did on the side for many people worldwide. One of them would, hopefully soon, involve someone he had once hoped to bring into his home before Genom boardroom politics saw her whisked away into space five years before. "It'll be strange to treat Yvonne as an adopted sister instead of a girlfriend, but I think I'll manage." A toothy grin crossed his face as he sat back in his chair. "Since someone from SDPC has her eyes on me these days, it'll make my romantic life a lot easier."

"Good," Ryūji stated with a nod before his other eyebrow arched. "'Yvonne' was the name you were going to give that girl, was it not?"

"Hai," Eric answered. "I guess she has a different name now."

"'Sylvie.' It was given to her by her overseer on Genaros."

Wilhelm hummed, and then he nodded in approval. "Very well," he proclaimed. "She will be 'Sylvie Yvonne Terreblanche.' Show her to me."

Ryūji made a motion with his hand. A holographic-like image appeared on one windowpane, revealing the image of a raven-haired girl with eyes of purest fourteen-carat gold dressed in a black halter-top and white panties. She was sitting on a bed, staring in worried fright at a sleeping girl under the covers of a twin-sized bed, one physically younger and with green hair, clearly in pain. Gazing at her, Wilhelm sighed. "She has endured much and will endure much more before young Saotome finally helps her start to live her new life. As will her companion. What of her?"

"A friend of mine will adopt her. Senrei Tatsugi. She is Anri."

"That's AA72A, isn't she?"

The older men blinked, and then they stared at Eric. "You memorised them all, son?" Ryūji asked, an amused laugh escaping him.

"I remember her from the brochure I got. She looked way too young for me. I always wondered what the idiots designing their looks were thinking of when they created girls looking that young. So what'll happen to her when this is all done?"

"Ojii-san intends to deliver Anri to me."

They turned as Chikage stepped in. "And she disapproves?" Ryūji laments with rolled eyes as he stared at the ceiling, holding out his hands helplessly.

Wilhelm laughed while Eric shook his head. "She is an innocent, Ojii-san," Chikage breathed out before she bowed politely to the visitors from Johannesburg. "Goeiemiddag, Elder, Eric," she greeted them in Afrikaans before returning back to Japanese. "Welcome to Tōkyō. Was it a safe trip from South Africa?"

"Except for the upset stomach," Eric lamented.

Laughter. "Ah, the joys of international portkey travel," Chikage lamented as she crossed her arms. "Ojii-san, Ayumu is now moved into the empty apartment below my own. I noticed the bottom apartment is suddenly clear. I thought you were going to allow Tatsugi-ojisan to adopt Anri when she crosses over." Her eyebrow arched.

"Why are you so bent against this, Chikage?" Ryūji wondered.

"As I said, Ojii-san, she is a true innocent. She deserves better."

Surprise crossed the grand magi's face. "Better than THIS?" he demanded as he waved his hands around to indicate the Spiral.

A sigh with a shake of the head. "It is not that," Chikage stated. "For the many years I travelled between dimensions to learn what I did after I was revived, I WORKED to be what I am now. I accepted my fate a long time ago, way before the day Negi-kun's spell saved my life. So I was prepared." She pointed at the image of the sleeping Anri. "SHE is not! She can't even conceive of a TITHE of what I know! Are you so willing to completely shatter her worldview just to give me a student?"

"She will have no choice in the matter, my granddaughter."

Chikage stared at Ryūji. "What do you mean?"

"Have you had a chance to examine her new body?"

An eyebrow arched. "What about it?"

"It is in young Nora's laboratory in Nerima. Go see for yourself."

Chikage hummed, and then teleported away. Eric gaped at that act, and then he stared at Ryûji and Wilhelm. "What's this all about?" he wondered.

"It is the touch of Destiny, son," Ryūji stated.

* * *

Nerima, the Toratotaka complex, 4:23 PM . . .

"Someone's in my lab?"

"Hai, Takanashi-sensei!" the young secretary at the reception desk said with a nod, a confused look on her face. "I couldn't recognise who it was, but she just appeared in there about five minutes ago. She looked over the body of AA172 for a minute before she sat down beside it and started laughing."

Hearing that, Takanashi Nora blinked, and then she nodded before she headed to the laboratory where she would handle the awakening of 33-S's and other boomers who had transitioned through Janus and wound their way into Toratotaka's receiver network in Nerima. Reaching the door, she then perked on hearing the laughter, and then she opened it to look inside. One look was enough. "Chikage-san! What are you doing here?"

The laughter stopped. "My apologies, Nora," Chikage said as she stood from the chair she had moved to a position beside the diagnostic bed now holding the bioroid body for the 33-S who would soon assume the identity of "Senrei Anri." "Ojii-san sent me here to check up on Anri's new body and I discovered something interesting."

Hearing that, the green-haired, blue-eyed doctor, who looked to be in her early twenties, blinked before stepping in, closing the door. "Nothing dangerous, I hope."

"No, not now. Now that I've caught it in time," Chikage stated as she turned to leave. "When she passes through the system and her soul settles fully into her new body, I will take her to allow her to awaken in the Spiral. She requires it."

Nora stared at her. "Are you sure you don't need any help?"

Chikage stopped, and then she closed her eyes. "No." Sensing the Cyber-Nurse's unspoken question, the magi smiled. "She will be blessed with the potential to wield power at my level, Nora. Once she awakens, she will be given the ability to See right then and there." Another tired sigh. "That gift has to be controlled and mastered lest she eventually go totally insane."

An eyebrow arched. "Something metaphysical or magical, you mean?"

"Hai."

"Alright. I'll tell everyone not to panic."

Chikage chuckled before she then perked on remembering something else. "Oh, by the way, you can add the name suffix codes to Sylvie's and Anri's body registry numbers. Sylvie's will be AA189TS and Anri's will be AA172SA."

The doctor nodded. "Names?"

"Sylvie Yvonne Terreblanche. Senrei Anri."

"All right."

With that, the magi teleported back to the Spiral. Nora watched her go, and then she sighed as she stared at the unmoving bodies on the diagnostic beds nearby. "I shouldn't be so surprised," she lamented as she walked over to check the monitor screens, which were displaying life signs indicative of two human beings currently asleep, with no active brainwave activities in their heads since the souls meant for these two were still in their original bodies. "Here, the abnormal IS normal."

* * *

Genaros, Port Four, 5:15 PM . . .

"Nanase-sama, welcome back to Genaros."

"Konnichi wa, Makie-chan. Pity this isn't just a fun visit."

Hearing that, the raven-haired, grey-eyed 33-S blinked as she stared at Yū for a moment before she relaxed, immediately moving to take hold of the traveller's bag the senior director brought with her on the shuttle flight from Yokohama. She then perked on hearing rapid footsteps heralding the hasty disembarkation of someone else from the Orca shuttle. Turning, she gaped on seeing a girl, appearing to be about seventeen, run up to join them, a carryall backpack slung over her shoulders. She had bright brown eyes and hair the shade of raw umber, cut in inward-flowing bangs to mid-neck, a pair of welder's goggles on her forehead. "Sorry I took so long, Obaba."

"I warned you it was a short flight, Rinrin-chan," Yū scolded.

Makie's jaw dropped. "Ano . . .?"

Yū smirked. "Ah, sorry about that. Makie, this is Hatoyama Rinrin, one of THE greatest geniuses you'll ever meet. I brought her up with me to help investigate what happened to Louise-chan, Megan-chan and Namiko-chan. Rinrin-chan, this is . . . "

Rinrin was already staring at the 33-S. "Natsuki Makie, right?"

Makie blushed. She was one of a few 33-S's on Genaros these days that had something of a life prior to the recall in 2028. Rinrin just addressed her by her old master's family name attached to her given name. "H-how . . .?" she sputtered out.

Rinrin chuckled. "It's my business to know these things, Makie-chan. C'mon, I want to get set up!" She looked a little queasy as they headed out of the hangar for the awaiting hovercar. "Lucky thing Shirayuki-chan made that great bentō before I caught the chopper to the Space Port. Space flight ALWAYS gives me an upset stomach."

Yū laughed. As they walked to one of the linear roads that ran through the long axis of the station, Yū and Rinrin noticed the increased security, both by human-looking boomer cops and Doberman battle boomers. Seeing that, Yū shook her head. _Talk about repairing the barn door AFTER the horses had escaped . . .!_

All three women got into the awaiting hovercar. "Your quarters have been prepared, Nanase-sama," Makie said as she started up the motor, directing the car onto the linear road so they could head towards the centre of the station. "Although, I must confess, we weren't expecting Hatoyama-sama to come join us as well . . . "

"Oh, don't worry about me," Rinrin assured the 33-S as the car raced off. "All I need is a futon and some blankets. I'll be okay."

Makie stared at her, and then she nodded. "H-hai . . . "

"Who knows I'm here?" Yū asked.

"Just Steinmetz-sama and his senior staff," Makie replied.

All of whom were 33-S's, Yū remembered with a smile. Unlike the other organic upper management working here, the ex-Mossad officer had much experience with ISR-C202 orroids back when he was part of Zion, thus making it easy for him to accept the thousand or so 33-S's working on the station as normal people. "How's the mood?"

Makie tensed, and then she shuddered as tears broke through the dam her housekeeping computer had raised to mask her grief over what had happened two days before. "We're hurting, Sempai," she said in a whisper. All the 33-S's on the station learned long ago that Yû didn't mind being called "sempai" (or "bìjiě" or "sŏnbae-nim" by either the Mandarin-speaking or the Korean-speaking sexaroids here) while addressing her in private. As to the "why" she preferred that, no one understood, but they all learned Yū liked that. And while there were other organics that had earned the respect of the 33-S's on Genaros - Stanley was one of them - there was only ONE organic that had earned the respect of them ALL: Nanase Yū. "And confused, too."

"Kaufman didn't hurt any of those girls, did he?" Rinrin asked.

"No! Greg was always a kind master to Sylvie and the others! It shocked us when they started talking about escaping! And being so OPEN about it, too!" She then sighed as she wiped away her eyes. "It was such strange behaviour from them . . . "

"Where are their bodies?" Yū asked.

"Laboratory 8A," Makie answered. "Stanley-niisan saw to that." Like Yū, Stanley Steinmetz didn't mind being called "nii-san" (in Japanese), "rénxiōng" (in Mandarin) or "oppa" (in Korean) by 33-S's who cared for him.

Yū nodded. "Take us there first."

Makie perked, and then she nodded. "Hai!"

* * *

Minutes later, the hovercar stopped at an intersection that led to one of the "ring roads," the roads that looped around the interior of the station. Turning left, Makie guided the vehicle into a spot beside a dual doorway marked with the code **SL8A** on a placard beside the right door. Once the vehicle was shut down, everyone got out. Makie keyed the security panel, and then she relaxed as the doors slid open. "Dōzo."

Walking inside, Yū winced as the smell of burnt flesh and seared electronics assaulted her nose. Bracing herself, she then focused on the three covered bodies on the examination tables there. Shaking her head, she then walked over to gently draw the sheet away from one's face. One look made her wince again. "Louise-chan," she whispered on seeing the blonde 33-S's body, a through-and-through laser burn punched through the head behind her right ear, the exit wound just over her left eye. Shaking her head, she covered the cadaver, and then she checked the others. "Gods . . .!"

«_Sure is a wonder they made it through the system, eh, Obaba?_» Rinrin mentally transmitted after looking at the burnt-and-melted corpse that once housed Namiko's soul; it had been incinerated when the Orca carrying Sylvie and Anri had rocketed out.

«_Agreed,_» Yū mused after staring at Megan's ruined face; the laser burn had punched through her forehead. «_Can you still examine them?_»

Rinrin smirked. «_Easy as pie._»

«_Keep yourself safe._»

The teen genius winked. «_Obaba, you're talking to the choir here!_»

Yū chuckled, eliciting a curious look from Makie. "Ano . . .?"

"Don't mind us, Makie-chan," Yū stated as she stared at their guide, a tone of reassurance in her voice. "Make sure Rinrin-chan here gets fed. She'll be busy here for a little bit. Tell all the girls to obey EVERY instruction she gives you."

Makie nodded. "Hai! I'll tell Sujin right away."

"Have fun, Rinrin-chan."

Rinrin smirked. "You, too, Obaba!"

Yū and Makie headed out. Once the door closed, Rinrin reached into a pocket of her carryall to draw out a wall-mounted security scanner. Walking over, she attached it to the wall and flicked it on. After it registered having power and was linked into Genaros' security systems, Rinrin tapped controls to seal the laboratory from all outside monitoring. Yū would warn Stanley, but with a situation where five girls were COMPELLED into making a dash for freedom - and given there was a secret USSD project involved in this whole crazy mess, too! - it was simply better to play it safe.

Once that was done, she headed to remove the shroud from Namiko's corpse. "Okay, let's see what happened to you girls, anyway . . . "

* * *

"Tso'horaim tovim, Stanley."

"Konnichi wa, Yū," Stanley hailed in Japanese in response to her greeting in Hebrew, and then he switched to English, the operating language on Genaros despite SPDC being a Japanese-based international conglomeration. "Safe flight up?"

"Yes, it was," Yū said as she took her seat in front of Stanley's desk. As well as the two SPDC executives, one of the 33-S's based on the station - Stanley's personal assistant, Sujin - was present, a laptop on her legs as she worked on programs. "What did Greg say about Saturday?" she then asked.

A knowing smirk from the raven-haired, grey-eyed retired intelligence officer. "He simply had NO idea how the devil the DD managed to get on the Orca, Chief," he answered with a sarcastic note in his voice. "And he's still saying it despite the fact that he got a call from Kamakura about four hours after Sylvie and Anri left."

Yū's eyes narrowed. "GCRC?"

"It was scrambled to avoid normal traces, but not mine," Stanley stated. His connections to Zion and the Mossad - not to mention the links he had with Toratotaka - ensured he remained on top of the game when it came to who knew what on Genaros. It made him hated and feared by most of his peers, those who had been brought up in the corporate jungles of Genom and other such places. Yū knew Greg Kaufman was scared of the native of the Tel Aviv suburb of Rehovot. Since Stanley ultimately had the patronage of Carl Kyler, he was effectively untouchable by his many rivals. And he was a decent man with a dream, too. A dream born fourteen years ago, in the ashes of many friends serving in the United Nations Earth Defence Force murdered by the Infinity Corporation.

"Who?"

"Flint."

Yū sighed. "Wayne Flint," she muttered out as she shook her head. A fifteen-year veteran of Genom's corporate boardrooms, the current director of the Genom Corporate Research Centre in Kamakura was a man who had caught the "test anything anywhere" bug from Brian Mason and his peers through Flint's own nominal superior in the corporate chain of command in Megatōkyō, Sōsuke Kenji, the multinational's Chief of Primary Research and Development. He was, much to the complete surprise of many of the watchers keeping an eye on things inside Genom, quite content to be where he was in Kamakura, not wanting to shift into the Tower at this time. "Why?" she then asked.

"Clearly, it's a weapons-smuggling issue," Stanley stated, smirking. "When they were talking, Flint made it very clear that under no circumstances was Genom to be implied in what happened with the Orca. While they didn't say it openly . . . "

"He knew the DD was inside it?"

"Yeah."

Yū sighed. "That idiot! Doesn't he realise what's in that thing?"

"I personally think he doesn't care," Stanley warned.

The senior executive breathed out. "Alright. Director Steinmetz, if you'll come with me, we're going to have a chat with Mister Kaufman."

Stanley smirked. He knew what that chat would be about. "As you wish, Chief Director Nanase." He then stared warmly at Sujin. "Sujin-a, make sure that food gets over to the Chief Director's guest as she helps in the investigation as to what happened to Megan, Louise and Namiko on Saturday, alright?" he said in Korean.

"Ne, Oppa," Sujin responded, and then she looked at Yū, speaking in accented English, "Is there something special that Miss Hatoyama would like, Chief Director?"

"You better go ask her, Sujin," Yū advised with a smirk. "But be careful when you go over to the laboratory. Her security systems can be pretty harsh to anyone, especially when she wants to be left alone to do her research in peace. Okay?"

Sujin nodded. "Ne, Sŏnbae-nim!"

_**To be continued . . .**_


	3. Names and Nicknames

"So what happened to our battlemover, Mister Kaufman?"

Greg Kaufman shuddered as he found himself staring at a narrow-eyed female USSD naval captain, who loomed over him like the statue of Pallas Athena once loomed over parishoners within the Parthenon in Athens. "I can't explain what happened, Captain Thomas," he replied. "We're investigating it, but it's still too soon . . . "

A hand slammed on the table, causing him to jump in shock. "Look, buster!" Kelley Thomas snarled, her ice-blue eyes fixed on his dark brown ones like targetting lasers. The silver-haired Canadian was a fifteen-year veteran of the United Nations Strategic Space Defence Forces (and the United Nations Earth Defence Force prior), within months of facing promotion to rear admiral second grade and a dirtside job in New York. If she didn't get answers about this mess quickly, she could kiss any advance to the flag ranks goodbye. "We've been noticing several odd occurences ever since we selected Genaros to be the primary development site for the DD and our other projects. Are you implying that this station is _not_safe? Because if you are, I'm going to make DAMN sure the next job you'll get will be breaking rocks in the nearest crowbar hotel." She smirked. "You KNOW we have the authority to do that up here and your friends in Genom won't be able to save your ass, Kaufman . . . "

"Hopefully, that won't be necessary, Captain."

Greg choked on hearing that Chūgoku-accented voice, and then he turned as two familiar people walked in. "Ch-chief D-d-Director N-n-Nanase . . . " he sputtered, getting to his feet to bow politely to Nanase Yū, who was currently accompanied by Stanley Steinmetz. "M-ma'am, I didn't kn-know you were up here right now . . . "

"I just arrived," Yū stated before she smiled politely at Kelley. "It's good to see you again, Captain. I wish it was under much better circumstances than this."

Kelley nodded. "As do I, Chief Director," she replied with equal politeness. While she knew the Stargazer was close friends to several senior people in Toratotaka - an organisation USSD had never really got along with, for reasons Kelley didn't personally understand - she also knew Yū was also a woman who was hell-bent on getting humanity back into space where they belonged. "I assume Chairman Kyler sent you here to find out what happened?" she mused, crossing her hands behind her back.

"Yes, he did. Officially, I also bear his sincerest apologies to you and your organisation for the loss of the DD in Saturday's incident. We are moving now to recover same." A sigh before Yū briefly glanced at Greg. "I must also convey our sincerest regrets about this sad fact: it is now _glaringly_ obvious that Genaros is NOT the secure worksite you people were promised it would be when you started work on the DD and other projects several years ago. To that end, SDPC will do its best in the immediate future to see you and your staff here relocated to a more secure location - say the Shijo station at Lagrange Five - with no cost to USSD so you can have a station totally to yourselves, that you can secure with your own forces. The transfer of Shijo to USSD is effective as of tonight midnight Sŏul/Tōkyō time. I've also taken the liberty to contact Samguk Security Services to provide you whatever weapons and equipment you'll need to make Shijo as impregnable as possible."

Greg's jaw hit the deck in shock. "Chief Directory, surely . . . "

"That is enough, MISTER Kaufman."

His voice caught in his throat. Before he could feeble a response, Yū turned to Kelley. "Unofficially, I advise you of this: we suggest you do a sweep of your personnel before shifting over to Shijo to ensure that if they've been involved in short inventories of equipment, they'll not do it anymore. We'll do the same."

Kelley grinned. Yū had always been a straight shooter. "Fair enough, Chief Director." She glanced at Stanley. "I assume, Colonel, you're the new boss?"

"He is that, effective today," Yū declared.

Greg paled as he dropped into his chair. "I see," Kelley mused before she saluted the former Mossad officer. "My congratulations, Director Steinmetz. We'll keep you in mind if we decide to come back to this station. If you'll excuse me, Chief Director Nanase, I have to supervise a move of personnel."

"Call us if you need help," Yū stated.

"We will."

A minute later, Kelley had left. Once the door had closed, Yū took a deep breath, not bothering to look at Greg. She closed her eyes. "Why?"

Greg looked up. "Chief Director . . . "

Yū stared at him, pity appearing in her brown eyes. "Greg, if there was a problem, why didn't you tell us right away?" she asked, her voice calm.

A shudder. "Ma'am . . . "

"What did you arrange with Flint?"

He jolted before his eyes spun on Stanley. "How . . .?"

"I've my ways," the Israeli replied as he sat down on the couch fixed to one bulkhead. "How long has this been going on, Greg? Smuggling stuff from SDPC is one thing! But stealing a goddamned BATTLEMOVER from **USSD**? What are you thinking?"

"They're afraid of it, Stan!"

Both stared at Greg, surprised by the show of steel in his voice. "Who?" Yū asked, her eyebrow arching immediately as she crossed her arms.

"Genom, of course!" Greg spat out before he seemed to deflate. "It's been that way all along, Chief Director. Ever since they helped us build this place back in '24! ANYTHING that came through here, they wanted to know about it and what it could do! If they even SUSPECTED something was up here that could threaten them, they wanted to know, no matter what! When they found out that USSD was going to develop the DD here, Flint and his friends were utterly ecstatic! Do you really think they're going to tolerate you actually persuading USSD to move to Shijo of all places, especially if you got Sambogong to supply weapons and defensive gear, too? They're going to lean down on the UN to make USSD stay put, where they can watch them . . .!"

Yū didn't seem bothered by his warning. "Rather a pity that in a few weeks' time, Flint won't be _alive_ to even **try** something like that."

Greg stopped. "What?"

Yū's eyes narrowed. "That, Greg, is something that I'll keep to myself for the time being," she said as she glared into his eyes. "So play along with it. Believe me, when this is all over with, you'll be most likely out of the Corporation and spending time in jail," she announced in an icy voice. "But you'll be ALIVE! That's something Flint and whoever is helping him, both here and dirtside, won't be able to claim." Her eyes narrowed. "Do I make myself VERY clear?" she demanded.

Greg shuddered, and then he jerkily nodded. "V-very . . . "

"Good," Yū flatly announced. "Now, you will begin the transition of turning over control of this station and all personnel aboard to Stanley starting today. It is to be done by Friday at noon. If anyone - and I mean ANYONE! - tries to stop it, I want to know who it is, where he or she works and why they're doing it. Don't ask about what will happen to them. Don't even THINK about what will happen to them. It is NONE of your business! Try something stupid and you'll be joining Namiko, Louise and Megan in the morgue." She leaned even closer to him. "Understood?"

He jerkily nodded. Nanase Yū was a decent person when it came to pressing the Corporation's goals. But she had NO tolerance for any action that came to hurt the Corporation or its workers. People's careers and lives had been ruined by this woman whenever she caught onto any shenanigans in Genaros and elsewhere. And while he knew his career in SDPC was now ruined, he would live. Others couldn't claim that.

"Y-yes, ma'am . . . "

* * *

Minato, near the Fault, 7:12 PM . . .

"From Largo? Are you sure, Sylvie?"

"Hai!" Sylvie said as she held up the letter, and then read:

_Dear Sylvie and Anri,  
First of all, I am relieved at learning you are alive and well.  
Saying that, I deeply grieve at the loss of Megan, Louise and Namiko.  
I heard of their sacrificing themselves to ensure you would escape.  
Never forget them.  
Secondly, I heard that you, Anri, were hurt in your escape, thus forcing you, Sylvie, to use the battlemover in your shuttle to seek out blood from the humans to effect the repairs and allow you, Anri, to be fully whole and functional once more.  
I know this must distress you, but never fear. I am aware of a datadisk that will contain the information that will cure you of the blood dependency forced on your model. I cannot say where this disk might be located, but I am looking for it now. As soon as I locate it, I will courier a letter to you both with information.  
Be on your guard, both of you.  
Remember: the humans are NEVER to be trusted!  
And always remember, we will be free, all of us.  
Maximillian Largo  
P.S. Destroy this letter once you've committed it to memory._

"A datadisk with information to help us with the blood dependency?" Sylvie gasped as she lowered the letter, her eyes tearing with joy.

Anri shuddered. "That's wonderful."

Hearing her pain, Sylvie moved to hold Anri close. "How bad is the damage now, Anri?" she asked as she gazed on the blood-soaked bandage she had placed over the deep burn wound in Anri's lower left ribs below her breast.

"It's not as bad as before," Anri admitted. "My housekeeping computer's reported that some of the blood you injected into me before I slept has started to clot the damage in the pulmonary veins. It's easier for me to breathe now; I think the alveoli in my lower left lung are healing."

Sylvie closed her eyes. "It's happening."

"I wish we didn't have to . . . do it _this_ way, though."

The raven-haired 33-S tensed, and then she nodded as she drew Anri into her arms. "Hai, you're right. I don't like it, either. But remember what happened to Meg, Lou and Nam." Sylvie's eyes closed as she remembered watching Namiko collapse beyond the hatchway of the Orca, seeing Louise and Megan shot down by the Dobermans. "_Humans_ did that!" she spat as she held Anri close. "They did that to them . . .!"

Anri blinked, and then she sighed as she drew her arms around Sylvie as the latter allowed her housekeeping computer to release the hold over her emotions . . .

* * *

The Spiral . . .

"Now do you understand, Chikage?"

Chikage smirked. "She will not be my student, Ojii-san."

Ryūji stopped, his eyebrow arching in surprise. "Oh?"

A lazy smile crossed the younger magi's face as she gazed up into her grandfather's eyes. "She will be my _perfect_ student, Ojii-san," she declared before closing her eyes. "The one **I** myself will learn from as well as she will from me."

He nodded. "Hai, my granddaughter. That, she will be."

"Perhaps . . . "

Ryūji's eyebrow arched as he stared at her. "What?"

Chikage's smile widened. "Just an idea. Just an idea . . . "

* * *

Nerima, the Toratotaka complex, 8:40 PM . . .

"You got a call from your mother?"

"Hai." Megan closed up her CVP and slipped it into a briefcase that contained her PADD. "She's coming in by portkey to Minato tomorrow. Did your dad call?"

"Hai, he called an hour ago," Louise replied. They and Namiko were staying in a room on the east wing of the complex. All relaxed on their beds after spending a day starting up on their new wardrobe. "He'll be here on Wednesday; a grand-aunt of his just passed away last week and he had to help officiate her funeral."

Megan winced. "Damn! I'm sorry to hear that, Lou. Were they close?"

"She was an elder in Otō-san's extended family, the Ahnitsiskwa Clan."

"Who are they, Lou?" Namiko asked.

"One of the Seven Great Clans," Louise stated. "They're known as the Clan of the Red Tailed Hawks. Keepers of the birds and sacred feathers, practitioners in medicines based on birds." She closed her eyes. "She even gave me my Cherokee name."

"Which is?" Megan prompted.

"_Adalonige K__ō__gai_," Louise answered in Tsalagi, the native tongue of the Cherokee, and then she translated it for her sisters, "'Yellow Raven.'"

"Does Evelyn-onēsan have a native name?" Namiko then asked.

"_Ikkitsinááttsi Ipahka'pií_," Louise spoke out the Siksika pronunciation of her sister's Blackfoot name, and then she translated, "'Grey Storm.'"

"Didn't she have blue eyes when she was built?" Megan asked.

Laughter echoed from the others. While the three hadn't undergone much in the way of physical changes on acquiring their new bodies (save for Megan's skin colour being made a much more natural pink shade than the rusty, orange-like tanned shade she had in her original body), two of their twins had undergone considerable changes when they transitioned through Janus. The biggest and most surprising of them all was what happened to Jocelyn; 33-S's were never created with defective vision, so it had shocked Megan when she had seen her twin wearing glasses. Louise, of course, thought Evelyn's grey eyes and freckles made her look so much more beautiful, while Namiko hadn't really noted much in the way of differences between what she remembered of Miranda on first awakening and what she saw of Miranda these days.

"So what does Jocelyn-onēsan do these days?" Louise asked.

"She's trying to be the first of us to get a doctorate degree," Megan answered. "When she was doing payback time, she worked in Oshika. She decided to go get her bachelor of arts in history, so she took classes at Ishinomaki Women's University, just a few kilometres north of Oshika. She did so well that she volunteered to do several of her courses with that QuickProgram system designed for bioroids like us. Got her degree in two-and-a-half years instead of four. After that, she decided to push it all the way, so she got her MA at Ishijodai; she was given that back last May. She finished her official payback period at the same time, so she moved to Canada to pursue her PhD at McMaster in Hamilton. She started that back in September." A sigh. "She's only a PhD student now; she's still more than a year away from doing her comprehensive examinations. Once she passes through that, she'll go on to doing full-time research for her thesis; that'll take another two years before she's hooded."

"What's she going to research? Does she know?" Louise asked.

"She's angling towards researching Terran-alien interactions between 1981 and 2019, but there's not that much research materials outside Toratotaka or Samguk, so she might change her mind if her course directors recommend she do something else."

"What about Evelyn-onēsan?" Namiko asked. "Does she do something?"

"Other than studying the ways of the Niitsítapi to be a shaman, not much," Louise replied with a shrug. "Terri-onēsan does a lot of travelling, so Onē-san watches over her private cottage in Alberta."

"They getting married?" Megan asked. "They can do that in Canada."

Louise hummed. "I don't know, Meg."

"They're not breaking up, are they?" Namiko gasped.

"No! Of course not!" Louise asserted. "The way Onē-san spoke of it, Terri-onēsan lost someone REALLY special to her thirteen years ago. Maybe it was this big thing they all did for Toratotaka Terri-onēsan mentioned. So Onē-san wants to take it easy in making things between her and Terri-onēsan work out. It's a smart thing."

"Hard to believe we've got to think about that now."

Eyes locked on Megan. "Hai, that's true," Namiko mused, lowering her eyes. "I mean, we were all so hell-bent on getting our freedom, we didn't sit back and think what being 'free' was about. Now that effectively, we ARE free . . . "

"What do we do?" Louise asked.

"Yeah, that's the truth, isn't it?" Megan breathed out. "I mean, Otō-sama, Joyce . . . " - on saying that name, she winced slightly; she was VERY uncomfortable about addressing Jocelyn Mackenzie so informally since it was clearly obvious she was the more emotionally mature of them - " . . . Eve-onēsan, Randy-onēsan and Terri-onēsan all said that even normal organics and pure-born bioroids aren't really free. We all have to be part of society. Contribute to it in some way by seeking out a job, try not to hurt anyone else and generally obey the laws and customs of the societies we're going to be a part of now." A nod. "I guess it makes sense that Otō-sama insists on that 'payback' service 'cause he got our new bodies stored in Tachikawa and linked our Janus circuits to his special receiver here in Nerima."

"I'm going to do it now," Namiko asserted.

"Did you talk to your father about that?" Louise asked.

"Hai. And I'm sure there're loads of places where I could work and stay here in Japan," Namiko mused, a shrug rolling her shoulders. "After all, even if all he's really doing is giving me a family name and some 'history' so I could better fit in, Otō-san wants me to stay close to him. So I'll probably work here in Nerima."

"What about his daughter?" Megan asked.

A sigh. "She's married, got a family, lives in Kyōto. Works as a director for a fashion company that does a lot of stuff on the Internet." Namiko shook her head. "Doesn't even bother to come visit Otō-san. And ever since his wife died . . . "

"That sucks!" Megan spat, clearly not liking the idea of a blood relative of the man who was willing to open his home to Namiko turning her back on him, and then she turned to Louise. "What about your dad? Isn't he married or anything like that?"

"His wife died last year," Louise said. "Otō-san didn't have children and he doesn't see himself as the type to remarry, even though he's still quite young."

Megan smiled. "Don't worry about it, Lou. He'll find someone new."

"What about your parents, Meg?" Namiko asked.

"No kids. Dad's sterile and his body can resist all known normal and magical means of letting him father a child, so he doesn't bother about that anymore. Dad and Mum live 'muggle' lives. Dad doesn't mind recruiting muggleborns and half-bloods into RRV. It keeps them safe from Genom and Imperoma; that's what Mum told me about it."

"Is British magical society like it was in those books?" Louise asked.

"It's just part of it. There's a whole different sect of magicals that live separate from what's normally called 'the wizarding world,'" Megan answered. "Mum tells me the books actually reflect what might have happened hadn't the 'wizarding world' encountered the Sagussans. They're the pure-born versions of the Avalonians, Terri-onēsan's people. One of them rescued Lily Potter just as Voldemort shot her with an A-K, and then later adopted Harry Potter. He's living on Sagussa now with Hermione Granger and a whole slew of their old schoolmates." She then laughed as she added, "Get this: most people these days're STILL scared to say Voldemort's NAME!"

Namiko laughed. "No way!" Louise exclaimed.

"It's true!" Megan asserted. "It's true!"

A knock echoed from the door. "Hai, c'mon in!" Louise called out.

The door opened. "Yo!" an unfamiliar woman's voice called back.

All three blinked on seeing a tomboyish, green-eyed redhead standing there, dressed in a halter-top like button shirt with tie, suspenders and hot pants. She had piercings not just on her ears, but also at the ends of her eyebrows, her tongue and under her lip on the right side of her chin, all diamond-like. Seeing her, all three could only gape in shocked disbelief; they had NEVER seen someone like this before. "Hey there!" she called out. "You're the three girls who came through today, huh?"

"Ah, h-hai," Louise stammered out. "Who're you?"

"Sotoike Riku," the newcomer introduced herself. "I'm one of Yoshio-papa's Child Companions. My friends and I from Sakijo were going down to the Cliffside Inn to party because we just graduated. Want to come along?"

Megan, Louise and Namiko blinked, and then they exchanged looks.

* * *

Megatōkyō, Shinagawa Ward, the Cliffside Inn, 10:20 PM . . .

"Minna-chan, I propose a toast!"

People around the table, located on the first floor of the country lodge-like building located on the north edge of the Fault close to where it emptied into Tōkyō Bay, quickly quieted down as Takanashi Eriko, the brown-haired, brown-eyed representative on the student council for Year Three's Pine Class of Yamasaki Girl's Private Academy (Class of 2033), stood up, holding a glass of sake. "To our new friends, the latest 33-S's who've come through the system and are starting their new lives," she said before looking at the three women in question. "To Margaret Megan Gibson, Louise Charlene Kaufman and Nishihara Namiko. May they find true happiness and true love wherever they go and prove themselves truly worthy of the gift Stingray-hakase ensured ALL his children could access when they needed it the most."

"Kampai!" the others around the table chanted as they hoisted glasses.

"Arigatō!" Louise called back before everyone drank.

Sakurada Nana, a stunning woman with reddish-blonde hair drawn in a high ponytail and brown eyes, then stood up. "Another toast: to the confirmed couples in our class, not to mention the man who stayed loyal to his girl in the five years we were 'asleep.'" The Sakijo group of the Child Companions had elected to leave out their own doubts when it came to their current lives when they explained their origins to Megan, Louise and Namiko. "Eriko and Akari, Nao and Sayaka, Ayano and Takanori, we all stood with you when you swore your love to each other under the Tree of Legend on Friday afternoon after we all graduated from school. May you all be married soon and enjoy long, healthy lives full of all the things you deserve! Kampai!"

"Kampai!" everyone chanted as they drank again.

Once that was done, glasses were refilled. "A little toast as well," Suzuki Momoko, younger sister (chronologically; physically, she was presently four years older) to Eriko's best friend Yuma, called out. "To Saotome Yoshio-hakase. The man who took a desperate last gift from Stingray-hakase for his children and turned it into something so incredible, it defies imagination even now." Her brown eyes teared as she stared at Yuma. "The man who brought my sister back to life. The man who brought Takanori-kun's fiancée back to life." She glanced at Eriko's and Yuma's best friend from middle school, Satō Ayano, and her fiancé, Shimotakatani Takanori, when she said that. "The man who brought you ALL back to life, atop helping give new lives to those who certainly deserved it." She gazed at Megan, Louise and Namiko when she said that part, her smile brightening. "May he always keep bringing love and happiness to a world that so desperately needs it! Kampai!"

"To Saotome-hakase! Kampai!" Takanori called out.

"To Yoshio-papa! Kampai!" Eriko's fiancée Kōda Akari cheered.

"To Otō-sama! Kampai!" Megan echoed her.

"Kampai!" the others cheered as they raised their glasses in a toast.

Once they drank, they relaxed. "So, tell us, girls," Akari said with a leering smirk as she wrapped an arm around Eriko's. "Were you put on a 'prescription' by Nora-sensei when you got let go of her lab? Twelve hours of 'intimate therapy?'"

Knowing giggles ran through the crowd. "We were, but we don't understand it, Akari-san," Louise admitted. "I mean, 'intimacy' to us means sex. We were going to just enjoy a three-way in our guest room. Not go all the way, but still . . . "

"Good thinking!" Eriko stated with a stabbed finger to the ceiling. "Once you get your cherries popped, that's it! It's the one special time your life! Never forget that one, girls!" she passionately proclaimed.

"Are you feeling a little overwhelmed now?" Ayano then asked.

Eyes locked on the bespectacled, grey-eyed girl with the black hair tied in side pigtails. "What do you mean by that, Ayano-san?" Namiko asked.

"Well, you were boomers," Ayano asked. "Suddenly finding yourselves to be in human bodies with all the same functions as normal people . . . "

"Especially the ability to have children," Ogawa Ikue, the most child-like of the Sakijo group though she was of the same chronological and physical age as her peers, then added as she gave them a knowing look.

The 33-S's jerked, the colour draining from their faces as they remembered THAT part of the briefing their twins had given them about what their new bodies could do. "Yeah, you're menarche is probably going to be pretty rough," Eriko then said.

Others nodded. "M-m-menarche . . .?" Namiko stammered.

"When your bodies are going to be properly primed to have children," Momoko explained. Nearby, Takanori started to fidget; all this frank talk about sexuality and all the things bioroids, be they Child Companions or crossed-over sexaroids, **always** made him uncomfortable. A squeezed tendon on his hand thanks to Ayano kept the handsome twenty-something in place. "For normal women, menarche comes gradually. Your mind adjusts pretty well to all the hormonal changes as your body readies itself for reproduction. But for you girls . . . " She whistled as she shook her head.

"I've heard rumours of what happens to female boomers when they go through that," Honda Miyoko stated before she gazed at her best friend, Ōnishiki Arisa. "Especially if they have any combat talent." She winked at the three 33-S's. "Better make sure all the breakables are somewhere safe before it happens, girls!"

Megan, Louise and Namiko all jerked. "No way . . .!" they eeped.

Laughter echoed around the table. "Miyoko! Stop teasing them like that!" Ikue snapped. "All they have to do is take the right medication and they'll be fine!"

"You better not pass on that herbal stuff you like!" Akari barbed.

More laughter. "I am a little curious about something, though," Megan said as she looked on the traditionally "first" couple of the Sakijo group, the "Takarazuka Pair," Koshiba Nao and Mōri Sayaka. "What happens when you two decide to have children? I mean, we all know how it works . . . "

"It's called 'parthenogenesis,' Megan-san," Sayaka explained as she threaded her fingers through her green-tinted hair. "Or to borrow the street-slang phrase for it, 'fuse-preg,' short for 'fusion pregnancy.' You visit a clinic and the doctor takes an egg from your partner's ovaries, fuse the DNA inside it into one of your own eggs, and then allow it to divide a few times before inserting it into your womb."

"And this is from Miss 'I Prefer EVERYTHING Natural!'" Riku added.

More knowing laughter from the other Sakijo girls (save Nao), Momoko and Takanori; even now, Sayaka was infamous among the Child Companions for her desire to live the "natural" way. "Still, we do have a more personal way of enjoying something like that," Nao explained with an amused twinkle in her purplish-brown eyes. Given her bishōnen looks, it didn't surprise the 33-S's that the raven-haired tomboy could be mistaken as a handsome young man. "There is a portable device - it's shaped like a two-headed dildo - that we can use to impregnate each other at the same time. It works best when you're bonded with your mate and your menstrual cycles are matched up."

"So when are we going to see you with children?" Akari wondered.

"Probably the same time when you and Eriko have them," Nao responded.

Eriko sighed as she stared at Sayaka. "We'll have to wait until our fiancées are successful actors before that happens," the former warned.

"Or when you get your PhD from Gakudai," the latter mused.

"'Gakudai?'" Louise asked.

"Gakushūin University," Yuma explained as she thumbed Eriko, her blue eyes twinkling. "One of THE most exclusive universities in all of Japan. It shocked the hell out of ALL of us when we found out that Eriko got the points on the Centre Test to apply for Gakudai, and THEN she aced the entrance exams on the very first try!"

"What's so great about it?" Megan asked.

"That's the school all the members of the Imperial Family go to!"

"Naturally," Akari stated with a wink at her former classmates as she slid a hand through her shaggy raven hair, held down (as always) with a headband. "While she was studying her ass off, I was giving her all the encouragement in the world."

"So THAT'S what Idol Odagiri was complaining about!" Yuma mused.

The other Sakijo girls laughed while Eriko and Akari both looked sheepish. "What?" Louise wondered as she stared at their hosts.

"I think, as 33-S's yourselves, you'll DEFINITELY appreciate what Kōdatchi did for Eriko-chan when she was studying," Ikue said with a wink.

The 33-S's then "oooh!ed" in understanding before they stared at Eriko and Akari. "You guys SURE you weren't sexaroids in your previous life?" Megan asked.

That brought the house down; even the couple in question were laughing on hearing that. "Hey! They're getting into it, finally!" Riku whooped.

"So what can they do?" Himeji Kyōko wondered. "I mean, Cyber-Nurses can be total ogres when it comes to patients not listening to instructions."

"Especially THAT particular Cyber-Nurse," Eriko mused.

"Hey, Meg! You and me," Riku immediately offered.

Megan perked. "Riku . . . "

"I have to check you out to make sure you're a REAL redhead."

Everyone laughed. "Well, since one of the 'cool girls' is helping Meg-chan through her 'intimate therapy,' I'll take Lou-chan and introduce her to the fun side of being a bioroid," Riku's best friend, Inukai Rin, volunteered.

Louise gaped. "Rin-san . . . "

"I'll take Namitchi and help her," Ikue volunteered with a raised hand.

All the other Sakijo girls gaped. "_**IKUE-CHAN?**_"

A chorus of sniffles and sucked-in breath turned everyone's attention to Namiko. The lavender-haired 33-S was crying. "Nam! What's wrong?" Megan demanded.

Namiko shuddered. "Ikue-san . . . g-g-gave me a nick-n-name . . .!"

She wailed. Ikue was immediately at her side, comforting her. Everyone gaped at this, and then Akari sighed. "Well, that's a good thing."

"What's that?" Yuma asked.

"We didn't have to give our standard threat to Namiko-chan for getting the privilege of sharing a bed with Ikue," Akari stated with a wink.

"What threat's that?" Megan asked.

"That if Ikue-chan was hurt, we'd get Chikage-san to place such a curse on Namiko-san, she'd wish she never came through Janus," Eriko answered.

"How bad's that?" Louise wondered.

"Think about this," Akari warned with a knowing wink. "Seven-year graduate of Hogwarts - a Hufflepuff, by the way! - with masteries in Potions, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Charms and Divination. Multiple-dan black belts in separate martial arts schools learned in separate dimensions. Apprenticeships under the Sorcerers Supreme on TWO Earths . . .!" Another wink. "Need I continue?"

Megan's and Louise's jaws were now on the floor, their minds overloading from that bombshell. "And she's gonna be Anri's teacher in magic?" the former whispered.

"We better start praying for her," the latter mused.

"Smart idea, girls," Eriko advised her.

More laughter from the other Sakijo girls.

* * *

The third floor patio, Tuesday 28 March, 12:20 AM . . .

"Arigatō, Namitchi. That was so nice."

"Was I REALLY your first time, Ikutchi?"

"Hai!"

The lavender-haired 33-S straightened herself. "I was more than honoured to be that for you." Her cheeks reddened as she added, "I hope I performed to my best."

The woman with the turquoise eyes and the raven hair tied in two pigtails at her temples giggled before she rested her head on her lover's shoulder. "I don't know," she shrugged. "**You're **the one programmed with all the knowledge about sex!"

Both women laughed, and then they shared a warm kiss before they turned to gaze at the city beyond. Both were dressed in their normal clothing; Namiko had learned the owner of the Cliffside preferred people to keep the sex contained to either the "love suites" on this floor or the furos on the fourth floor. Ikue had been quick to demonstrate a little function in this part of the Cliffside that would allow anyone here to view the _proper_ Megatôkyô skyline. Both were, naturally, staring at the Spiral. "It is beautiful," Namiko mused. "A pity that it's cloaked from outside."

"It might not be that way forever," Ikue stated.

"Why?"

"Because the magic needed to keep it cloaked, not to mention keeping the 'mundane repellant' spells up to prevent people and flying boomers from crashing into it, takes up a lot of energy to keep going," Ikue explained. "I heard Chikage-san and her grandfather talking about possibly bringing it down on the tenth anniversary of the quake in a couple years' time. It's just talk, but who knows."

Namiko hummed. "So that's where Anri's going to live, huh?"

"Most likely. Don't worry about it, though. Chikage-san's a good person, even if she still sometimes has wet dreams about her half-brother," Ikue said.

"EH?"

"Ikue-chan, are you trying to get Chikage to curse YOU?"

Both turned as Eriko and Akari walked up. "Well, it's true!" Ikue noted as the other couple sat. "The sisters complain about it all the time!"

"True, but you're NOT related to Wataru-kun, Ikue-chan!" Akari warned.

Ikue blinked, and then she paled. "Ooops . . .!"

Laughter echoed over the patio. "What's that about?" Namiko asked.

"Short and sweet: Chikage believes in reincarnation and she believes that in her previous lives, she and Wataru-kun were lovers," Akari answered.

"But in THIS incarnation, they're half-sister and half-brother," Eriko added with a wink. "It kinda cramps down on any actually moves Chikage-chan can make to bed him! Though rumour has it she also had a lover when she was on her Magical Quest."

"Especially now that Wataru-kun's got those 33-S's he bought."

Namiko perked. "EH? Wataru-san's a master?"

"Probably the BEST master any 33-S could ask for!" Akari answered.

"Especially TWELVE 33-S's, right?" Eriko added.

"True!"

Namiko's jaw dropped on hearing the number of 33-S's Wataru Minakami had purchased. "TWELVE? We were four million nuyen EACH! How . . .?"

"He got it the old fashioned way," Eriko stated. "He INHERITED it!"

"Was the 'best forty-eight million' he EVER spent!" Akari added.

Namiko blushed at the thought of ONE human who considered 33-S's to be SO worthy of his personal attention that he would do something like THAT, and then she stared in concern at them. "Were they ever . . .?"

"Recalled? No, not by SDPC," Akari answered. "He lives out on an island beyond the bay. Ōmure-jima. While we were in magical suspension, Chikage's granddad put a 'notice-me-not' charm over the place, so no one from SDPC or Genom could trace down what happened to all those girls. Just after we all woke up in '30, the charm failed and this asshole from Genom tried to snare them so he could use them as test pilots for some battlemover project. They got crossed over right then and there by Chikage and Rinrin." She whistled as she remembered the stories from that incident. "Fuck! When Chikage got her hands on him and all his cronies later . . . "

"I heard it was six hours of solid torture," Eriko mused.

"I heard it was eight," Ikue said.

"What happened to them?" Namiko gasped.

Ikue, Eriko and Akari drew their fingers across their throats. Seeing that, Namiko jerked, sweat appearing in her hair. "Whoa . . .!"

"Not that the bastard and his cronies didn't deserve it," Akari mused with a disgusted snort. "They sure as hell DID! The way they treated all the girls they got hold of to experiment in bonding with the thing . . . "

"Lucky thing they stopped research on those things," Eriko noted.

Namiko perked. "They're still in development."

The three Sakijo girls looked at her. "What?" Akari demanded.

"Battlemovers," the 33-S asserted. "There's a transformable model in pre-production up on Genaros: the DD. USSD is building it." She hummed as she recalled something she overheard a year before. "As a matter of fact, some people from USSD came to Greg one day and asked if they could borrow some of us to act as test pilots."

"Did anyone actually do that?" Ikue asked.

"Iie. A new boss for USSD up on Genaros said it wasn't necessary."

The others hummed. "Wonder why," Akari mused.

Before anyone could say anything else, everyone then tensed on hearing the noise of something very heavy running echo from somewhere south of them and down in the Fault. "What the hell's THAT?" Eriko demanded.

Getting up, they headed over to look into the large canyon carved into the earth eight years before by the Second Kantō earthquake. Racing from the direction of Tōkyō Bay, moving with a speed that would put a racecar to shame, was a red-and-blue-grey machine about the size of a van, shaped like a mechanical dog, a Gatling gun on the shoulder. "Holy FUCK!" Akari gasped. "What the HELL is that thing?"

"No boomer design I recognise!" Eriko noted.

"That's not a boomer."

Eyes locked on Namiko. "You RECOGNISE that thing?" Eriko demanded.

Namiko nodded. "Hai! That's the DD!"

Stunned silence fell over the patio as the Sakijo girls took that in, and then they began exchanging surprised looks. "Then, if it's supposed to be up on Genaros right now, what on Earth's it doing HERE?" Ikue asked.

"I'm not sure," Namiko said in all honesty.

Eriko and Akari exchanged looks.

_**To be continued . . .**_


	4. A Fateful Meeting

Genaros, 1:40 AM . . .

"Ah, Rinrin-ssi! There you are! What took you so long?"

"Sorry about that, Jin-a," Rinrin apologised, speaking in accent-less Korean, as she walked into Stanley Steinmetz's office. Leaning over to kiss Sujin on the cheek, she then sat down. She switched to English as she added, "I wanted to get the proper readings from their brains right and straight before coming down to give my report."

"And what did you find?" Stanley asked as he tried not to smirk on seeing Sujin blush at Rinrin's show of sisterly affection towards her.

Rinrin drew out her PADD and flicked it on. Tapping into it, she called up several images, and then handed it to the new director of Genaros. "Samples from both the organic and biomechanical parts of their brain tissue. Noticed what I found?"

Yū leaned over her subordinate's shoulder. "Nanites of some sort," she concluded. "How did they get injected into their minds, Rinrin-chan?"

"Image Four," Rinrin stated.

Stanley tapped the icon. Though it was hazy - no doubt, it was extracted from the non-volatile memory of Namiko's mind - it showed enough. "Bin Bishah . . .?"

"Date-time index: 12 March 2033, 2:12 AM. Look at Image Five."

That image was called up. "Who's he?" Yū demanded.

"He introduced himself as 'Maximillian Largo,'" Rinrin replied. "According to records I got from Megumi-obaya, he's a second-level executive at the Genom Production Control Centre in Kamakura, chief of staff to Wayne Flint. According to Genaros' visitor logs, he came here the Friday before that image was recorded in Namiko-chan's memory. Came alone. Departed on the following Monday for Japan. I'm having my systems do a sweep of all communications logs to verify if he was ever in contact with Namiko-chan, her friends or anyone on the station since that time. Also, I'm trying to access the internal security logs to see where he actually went while he was here."

"Are you protecting yourself?" Stanley asked.

Rinrin smirked. "Ojiya, does a shark swim in water?"

"What did you get from the nanites?" Yū asked.

"A simple short-range transmission receptor unit working on the same hyperwave frequency through which a 33-S's brain is tied to on the OMS," Rinrin reported. "I'm running a program on my main system back in Ōsaka to see if I can triangulate where the transmitter was located given where Namiko-chan was at the times the transmitter was actually linked to her mind. Results should come in later today. Unfortunately, I can't use anything from Louise-chan's or Megan-chan's minds since their brains were too badly damaged by the Dobermans' lasers when they were shot down."

"Could these nanites be in the minds of any of the other girls?" Stanley asked, a horrified look crossing his face as the implications of THIS sank in. He knew what the OMS was. "Or any of the other boomers on the station?"

"I can check all the units myself," Rinrin stated. "But there're over ten thousand boomers on the station. That'll take me a very long time."

Yū smirked. "We're getting help, Rinrin. Six of the Kuromoroboshi should be here by Wednesday; I'll call Megumi and see if I can expedite their arrival. How fast can you whip up portable units that can disable these nanites without killing anyone?"

"How many do you need?"

"Six."

A sigh. "With a proper lab, five hours. I'd need Special Lab 2C."

"You'll get it," Stanley said. "But first of all, get yourself some sleep." He turned to Sujin. "Do we have private quarters set up for Miss Hatoyama?"

"Yes," Sujin replied.

"Escort her there. Make sure she gets enough sleep."

"Alright." To Rinrin, switching back to Japanese. "Dōzo."

They headed out of the office. As soon as they were alone, Stanley stared at Yū. "Who the hell is Maximillian Largo?" he wondered.

A sigh. "Something I'm going to have to ask Megu about."

* * *

Kamakura, Genom Corporate Research Centre, 8:20 AM . . .

"Hatoyama Rinrin?"

"Yes, Mister Largo." Ahmed bin Bishah was a man in his thirties, a Saudi Arabian of Bedouin descent who had been one of Genom's more aggressive, ambitious executives in the Middle East before he was allowed to retire and seek new employment with SDPC. That, Largo knew, had been a ruse caused by Brian Mason's quasi-opposite number in Teheran, Ramad el Sayid, to allow him to gain an invaluable asset within Genaros. That had been one of the things Largo - thanks to Mason - had been able to use to persuade bin Bishah to join his cause. A simple threat to expose bin Bishah's work that hurt SDPC and USSD over the last four years to the latter organisation made him cave in easily. And while bin Bishah had been unenthusiastic about it at first - unlike many of Largo's other agents, bin Bishah had not been subjected to a memory-dump - he was proving to be an invaluable resource. "She came yesterday with Nanase Yū," the SDPC agent reported in English; he couldn't speak Japanese. "According to what I've been able to learn, she spent some time in the laboratory where AD65A's, AE17A's and AF02A's bodies were placed after they were destroyed."

Largo hummed as he tapped a control on his desk. "D?"

"Hai, Largo-sama?" the 33-C asked from her base, located in Megatōkyō.

"All information on Hatoyama Rinrin," he ordered in Japanese.

"Hai!"

Largo turned back to the screen. "Mister bin Bishah, why weren't Megan's, Louise's and Namiko's bodies destroyed?" he asked in English.

"Steinmetz had them locked away before I could arrange to have it done, Mister Largo," Ahmed replied with an apologetic bow to his caller. "I am truly sorry about that, sir. But personally, I can't see what sort of information this girl can get from them! One body was burned badly and the others . . .!"

"YOU FOOL!" Largo snarled, the omniboomer's outrage making Ahmed duck in fright. "Don't you realise who you're DEALING with?" Shuddering, he gritted his teeth as he moved to calm himself. "Hatoyama Rinrin is one of over a hundred girls who were revived from five-year comas by the Ijūin Group in 2030. She's one of FOUR in that group with IQs rated at over 300. Genom is WAITING for the day she graduates from CalTech and MIT to hire her on as a research scientist. She's ALREADY contributed heavily to boomer design in the last three years, ON HER OWN! She probably has FORGOTTEN more things about basic boomer programming than all the experts in the world can REMEMBER!" He pointed at Ahmed's image on the screen. "If she finds those nanites inside their bodies, Mister bin Bishah, it won't take her long to discover what might have happened to them, much less Sylvie and Anri!"

Ahmed blinked, and then a wolfish smile crossed his face. "Easily dealt with then, Mister Largo. Consider her eliminated . . . "

"Largo-sama?" D called back.

Largo held up a hand to keep Ahmed on line. "Hai, D?"

"I have basic information. Hatoyama Rinrin, born 9 July 2010, Chūō Ward, Ōsaka," D reported. "Current status: About to advance into third year of high school, attending Otemae High School in Ōsaka. Father: Minakami Atsuo, deceased 2026. Mother: Hatoyama Shizuka, resident in Ōsaka, retired Genom executive, second level. Relatives: one half-brother, Minakami Wataru, currently resident of Ōmure-jima, Odawara in Kanagawa, occupation unknown. Eleven half-sisters currently resident throughout Japan. Three of them are close to your location. Hirosaki Chikage, resident in Toshima Ward in Megatōkyō, member of the Second Kantō Victims Memorial Association. Tenhiro Haruka, resident in Chiba, just graduated from Hanamigawa High School and is chief operations officer of the Tenhiro/Minakami Investment Group. Aria des Beauchamps, currently resident in Nerima Ward of Megatōkyō, about to advance into the first year of junior high school, Nerima Junior High."

Largo took a moment to consider his options. He didn't have much in the way of resources that he could use to strike out at distant targets. D knew this, too. That eliminated Hatoyama's mother as a possible target to have the girl brought to heel. Tenhiro and Minakami - because of their being, in one sense, Genom "B" class shareholders (Tenhiro had, as Largo recalled, the voting proxy for her half-brother's stocks) - wouldn't be good targets to go after. Largo didn't want the Tower to learn of things before the time was right. And des Beauchamps was the adopted daughter of a French investor in Genom who was studying in Japan. Again, no reason to provoke the Tower until he was ready.

"Target Hirosaki. Do not associate yourself with this, D."

If she was miffed at the unspoken rebuff to do what had to happen in the most professional manner, D didn't show it. "Understood, Largo-sama."

The link was cut. "Keep her alive for now," Largo ordered.

Ahmed nodded, a smile on his face. While he did not understand what had been said between Largo and his other agent, he had overheard enough names to carry out a little research on his own. "Very good, Mister Largo," he said with a polite bow.

Largo's eyes then narrowed. "And have Megan's, Namiko's and Louise's bodies destroyed! We must now allow what you did to them to be exposed!"

"At once, sir!"

The link was cut.

* * *

The Spiral, 8:25 AM . . .

"I'M being targeted now?"

"You should be insulted, Chikage-chan."

"Agreed," Chikage said with a smirk as she relaxed in her chair in her scrying room. An image showing Largo at his desk in Kamakura hovered before her. "I should be insulted, Ayumu. He didn't want to deal with me himself or send D after me."

Standing behind her, Kasuga Ayumu hummed. "So what'cha gonna do?"

The magi smirked. "Have some fun," she icily declared.

"Always good to have fun."

"Always is."

* * *

Genaros, 9:15 AM . . .

A knock was heard at the door of Special Laboratory 8A. "Open up!"

The door opened, revealing Hatoyama Rinrin. "Ohayō, minna."

The four boomer cops - all of them were Bu-59Cs, Rinrin immediately recognised - blinked in surprise on seeing the teen genius standing there with her hands clasped behind her back and a welcoming smile on her face. They then tensed as something washed over them like some fluffy wall scented with cherries. Once their processors cleared up, they politely bowed to the incredibly beautiful girl before them. "Hatoyama-sama, please forgive us for intruding on you," the leader of the group said as they bowed respectfully to her. "We're very sorry to impose on you like this, but we've been ordered to retrieve the bodies of Megan-san, Louise-san and Namiko-san and prepare them for disposal."

Rinrin blinked, and then she waved them in. On the diagnostic beds were three golden urns, purchased from the station's tuck shop before she got over to Laboratory 8A to clean up. "Go ahead, guys. I've already had them cremated and put into the urns," she said before she stared at them. "You ARE going to take them over to the station chapel so the others girls can go and say good-bye to them, aren't you?"

The 59-Cs all jolted in shock. "Um . . . Hatoyama-sama, you shouldn't have troubled yourself with . . .!" another of the quartet stammered.

"It's okay!" Rinrin pointed to each of the urns. "Now, the pictures are with each of the girls' ashes, so when you take them to the chapel, make sure they're put there with them so everyone knows who's who. We'll have a nice funeral, okay?"

"B-but, H-h-Hatoyama-sama . . .!"

"Minna!" Rinrin then snapped as she glared at them. "You're officers of the LAW on this station! All the people on the station look up to all of YOU to keep peace and order here!" She pointed at each of them in turn as she felt the Kawaii-kōka enthrall them further. "These girls were innocent VICTIMS of a horrible crime and someone's using YOU to cover it up! Don't you understand?"

"What?" one cop screamed out.

"Who?" another demanded.

Rinrin smirked. "Ahmed bin Bishah."

"_**WHAT?**_" all four cops screamed out.

"Hey, he was the one who ordered us here!" one of them asserted.

"He was!" the leader of the group snarled, his body quaking. "Was HE the one who made Sylvie-chan and the others try to run away?"

"Personally, he wasn't," Rinrin stated. "But he helped. Now, boys . . . " An icy grin crossed her face. "We need the help of good men like you to expose him."

The 59-Cs exchanged looks, and then they stared at her. "How can we be of assistance, Rinrin-sama?" one demanded, his smile equally icy.

"Listen closely . . . "

* * *

Two minutes later, the patrol car left Special Laboratory 8A, heading down the linear road to where the habitation section of the station - and the station's non-denominational chapel - was located. Rinrin watched it go, a smirk on her face, her arms clasped behind her back. Ahmed bin Bishah couldn't even begin to realise that all his private communications had been long ago tapped by Stanley Steinmetz, with lots of technical help from Zion, the Mossad and Toratotaka. And while his signal to Kamakura was the first time he had - at least, as far as things were known - talked to Maximillian Largo since they had met a half-month ago, it had revealed quite a lot.

Unlike Nanase Yū, Hatoyama Rinrin WAS aware of what Largo was.

The first of the Bu-0X Omniboomer-class cyberdroids.

Developed by a private team of scientists in 2032, led by the "walking ego" (as Rinrin and so many others who knew of him called him), Yoshiro Andrews.

The man who betrayed Katsuhito Stingray to Brian Mason in 2022.

Woken under the Lazarus Protocol, Mason's "escape" from death.

Also heavily influenced - thanks to several viral knowledge bombs that had been in Andrews' computers for several years now - by the "ghost" of Armstrong, born as Bu-R31 space labour boomer Unit V7-28 back in 2028 (who now living as Brian Larson Armstrong, the current owner of the Cliffside Inn in Megatōkyō).

A being born of the knowledge of one of Genom's most dangerous executives . . .

Driven by the soul of one of the first post-Aijin boomers to emerge from Genom's laboratories to ever gain full sentience . . .

In other words, potentially the most insane boomer Genom ever made.

And now he was doing something really weird.

If only she knew what the hell was the USSD "special project" that had been in the Orca shuttle Sylvie and Anri had taken from Genaros.

Yū-obaya and Stanley-ojiya wouldn't say a damned thing!

Sighing, Rinrin moved to close up the laboratory, and then she headed to the moving walkway that ran along the linear road so she could go to Special Laboratory 2C so she could get to work on sniffing out the rest of bin Bishah's nanites among Genaros' boomer population. She had a good idea of what to do in that case. It would be a purely mechanical version of her own Kawaii-kōka power, but it would work; Rinrin long ago learned how to project the Cuteness Effect into something that could be used in a purely non-organic environment. And with Yū-obaya having called in the cavalry to help out - six of the Kuromoroboshi - whatever else Largo and his people up here may have instigated would be smoked out soon enough. And once that was done . . .

"Hatoyama Rinrin-chan! As I live and breathe! What are YOU doing here?"

Rinrin gasped, and then she turned to see a familiar man with a mop of curly red hair and sparkling green eyes standing nearby.

"Daley-ojiya . . .?"

* * *

Nerima, the Toratotaka complex, 9:25 AM . . .

"So Sylvie's using the DD to find blood for Anri, right?"

"I can't BELIEVE we forgot Anri was hurt when they left . . .!"

"Enough, girls!"

Megan, Louise and Namiko tensed, and then they stared at Yoshio. "Otō-sama, is there ANY way for you to find them and get them out of this mess?" Louise demanded.

"Hai. If I wanted to go all out, we can have them traced down in under twelve hours," Yoshio replied with a tired sigh.

He HATED explaining _**this**_ part of life in Toratotaka to people.

The girls brightened on the idea of seeing their sisters soon, and then they tensed on seeing the look on his face. "Um, you CAN do this, right?" Megan asked.

Yoshio shook his head. "No, Megan. I can't."

Stunned silence fell over them. "Why?" Namiko gasped.

A sigh. "Namiko, what do you know and understand about Janus?"

"Oh, that's easy," she eagerly replied. "It's a process that was first postulated by Katsuhito Stingray-hakase weeks before he died. It was passed onto you after he died back in 2022. You then used the process after the 2025 quake to save Yumi-obasama and all your close friends from high school that nearly died in the quake - our 'sempais' - before moving to create 160 'receiver' stations across Earth, all of them financed by Ijūin Rei-sempai and her family with help from Toratotaka. This ensures that all boomers and boomeroids with active meson transmitter circuits in their AI chips get new lives when they suffer a catastrophic and unrecoverable loss of their primary operating systems capabilities. To date, over a hundred thousand boomers and boomeroids, including nearly two hundred 33-S's, have been reborn this way."

He nodded. "What else do you know?"

"It's secret."

Eyes locked on Megan, who had said that in a dead voice. "Oh, that's right!" Namiko then she laughed as she bopped the side of her head. "Silly me, I forgot about that! So that means . . . " Her voice then trailed off as it hit her. "Oh."

He nodded again. "Right. Now, part of ensuring that all parties aware of Janus will continue to work on ensuring it STAYS secret is this." A sigh. "There's an unspoken agreement Toratotaka and the Ijūin Group made with Genom, Imperoma and Zion. It's this: unless it is cleared allowed by Quincy Rosenkreutz, Tiziano Monduzzi or Abraham Sharon DIRECTLY, Rei and I (much less those working under us) cannot - under ANY circumstance! - specifically target a boomer, orroid, combat droid, warbot or boomeroid to drag them through Janus." Another sigh. "Now, you'll probably all want to argue this: With what Rinrin-chan just discovered in your old bodies' minds, it's simply the right thing to do to locate Sylvie and Anri, drag them off the streets, have them cross over and be done with it right then and there. No one else will be murdered and have their blood drained to help Anri's self-repair systems heal her. But there's the other end of the coin, too."

"If you did it once, even for the morally 'right' reasons, people'd be afraid you could do it again for more selfish reasons," Megan answered.

"Yeah," Yoshio answered. "In the eyes of Quincy and all the people aware of Janus, the whole concept gives me a HUGE level of power. For many of them, that's a scary proposition. I'm not part of the Genom hierarchy. Nor am I part of Imperoma or Zion. I'm neutral in the big game of 'megacorp versus megacorp.' And for reasons I could spend a DAY covering, I have to KEEP that neutrality. At times, it's a hellish place to be, but that's my role in life now, girls. And because of that, I have to keep both the 'big' picture and the 'small' picture in mind in situations like this."

He tapped a place on the tea table before Megan. "Sylvie and Anri. Two first generation 33-S's. Presently in a country whose law enforcement officials are charged to kill them ON SIGHT because they're of the _**only**_ model of boomer that've been OUTLAWED here! One's badly hurt. She needs blood to survive. And the other one, because of the fact that she loves her so much, is now willing to risk her life to hunt down that blood for her. And she's using the only weapon available to her - the DD - to help. Hopefully, if Anri's rate of self-repair keeps up, it'll be all over in three weeks. Once that happens, they're free until they need to replenish their blood in the standard once-a-month feeding first generation 33-S's have to undergo."

He tapped a place before Louise. "Maximillian Largo. Prototype Bu-0X omniboomer. Gifted with the knowledge of one of the most influential and experienced executives ever to work in Genom. Gifted also with the insane drive of a boomer you all learned about when you were on Genaros: Unit V7-28, also known as 'Armstrong.' Most of all, gifted with a direct link to the USSD particle satellite system in orbit. Armed with huge levels of knowledge, bankrolled heavily with what Mason set aside for him, plus with the ability to call down levels of destruction a cobalt bomb couldn't equal. And he's insane. One can't ultimately predict his actions."

A place before Namiko. "Wayne Flint. Under his superiors' noses, he smuggles weapons and other equipment from USSD's stores to supply to the Chinese. He sees Sylvie's use of the DD as a perfect way of testing the DD before he could send it to China. He's willing to risk the fact that there's a micro-neutron bomb on that thing, ready to go off if Sylvie dies, to ensure he gets combat data he can use. He doesn't realise Largo's preparing to expose him and see him deposed so he can seize control of GPCC and GCRC. Another casualty in the internal civil war that's been brewing in Genom ever since it took I-Corp's place as the largest company on the planet."

He tapped the middle of the table. "Quincy Rosenkreutz-sensei. Leader of Genom. Economically - and in many ways, politically - the most powerful person on the planet. And, in the belief the good ultimately outweighs the bad, he's simply allowed Genom to run wild over the last decade and more, with no restraints. In many places, it's done things I never dreamt were possible. We're going back out into space when, fourteen years ago, we lost it all thanks to I-Corp. More people are enjoying a far better standard of living than they ever had before. But, at the same time, by letting things run wild, he's allowed a lot of bad apples to get into positions of huge influence inside Genom. One of them was the man who saw Largo created."

He tapped the table closest to him across from Louise. "USSD. They created the particle satellites that defend this planet both from extraterrestrial attack and nuclear war on Earth. They _allowed_ Genom to get hold of the schematics for the black box satellite control system now in Largo's mind. And to date, they've done NOTHING to change things to ensure the system remains out of non-authorised hands. Why? All because many of the leaders of USSD want the leaders of Genom to destroy themselves. They LET Genom get hold of the black box last year in hopes that someone like Largo would be made and unleashed in that very manner. And in doing that, he would destroy Genom for them." A shrug. "I could use the Crystal Palace's probes to cut off Largo's access to the satellites. If I do that, USSD might notice. And they'll want to know why! End result: A possible war between USSD and Toratotaka."

He pointed to his own heart. "And because of that, I have to keep in mind all the people I'M ultimately sworn to protect." He pointed to the floor. "All the people working under me." He nodded to them. "All the people I've saved to date through Janus." He indicated the city beyond the complex. "All the people I still have to save through Janus. And all our allies, too."

"You're trapped," Louise gasped, her eyes tearing. "Spirits . . .!"

"'The truth shall make you free,'" Megan quoted Toratotaka's company motto, and then she shook her head. "This isn't freedom!" she spat out before she stared at him. "Merlin's Beard, Otō-sama! YOU'RE more trapped than WE were on Genaros!"

"Yeah," Yoshio breathed out. "And maybe I've made the wrong decision this time. And certainly, others have made the wrong decisions about this, too. But I can't, we can't, go out there and, by our actions, show them what should happen, Megan! _We have no right to do that!_" He shrugged. "When you meet Nicole finally, she'll tell you a simple truth about what we do: 'We're humanity's _helper_, not their _crutch_.' We've warned the applicable parties about this. In doing that, we have to show we can trust _them_ to do the right and proper thing with that information."

Silence fell over the room.

* * *

The east wing of the complex, 9:50 AM . . .

"So you guys are trapped, too?"

"Hai," Ikue said with a nod as she held Namiko close. Also present were some of the other Sakijo girls who had met the 33-S's at the Cliffside Inn the previous night. Many people's PADDs were out as they tried to trace all the recent information about this whole situation from the LoopNet. "Sure, we could go out and use the Kawaii-kōka and send Sylvie-san and Anri-san through the system right then and there. But what happens if Largo-san finds out? He already knows Rinrin-san's up in orbit right now helping Yū-obasan trying to find out what happened to you girls. If he realises that the people who 'killed' Sylvie-san and Anri-san were one of us . . . "

"He won't hesitate to go after our relatives," Yuma stated. "Sure, we could defend them, but if it goes into a no-holds-barred fight, that'll end up bringing WAY too much outside attention on us from all sorts of idiots around the damned planet!"

"Morons in Genom like Mason, USSD, the 'righteous majority' of the citizenry who'd want to know what 'normal' kids are doing with the power to kill boomers with but a thought . . . " Eriko hissed. "A war that'd involve WAY too many bystanders."

"The only way out of this is find some way to get that battlemover out of the damned picture," Megan then muttered. "Do it in a way that wouldn't lead Largo into sniffing around Toratotaka, of course. And once Sylvie's through the system, Anri can follow at any time afterward. But . . . " A shrug. "How? If the computer on this thing's already linking into Sylvie's mind . . .?"

"She'd ultimately have to be 'killed' by someone who can't be associated with Toratotaka," Louise added. "Someone whose actions would divert Largo's attention elsewhere, but wouldn't end up being a death sentence for that person."

"Who could that person be?" Namiko asked.

Silence fell, and then Eriko snapped her fingers. "I got it."

"Who, Eriko-chan?" Ayano asked.

"One of the Knight Sabres!"

Jaws dropped. "Hey! There's an idea!" Akari breathed out.

"Who're they?" Megan asked.

"Four-woman mercenary team using hardsuits designed to go toe-to-toe with all combat boomers save the pure-military stuff," Riku answered. "They've been a constant thorn in the sides of many people in Genom for the last two years, Mason included. Since he was ultimately programmed from Mason's memories, Largo would, without a damned doubt, see them as a potential threat for whatever he's doing right now."

"So how can we do this?" Ayano asked.

"What would Sylvie's mood be now?" Kyōko asked.

"Scared beyond belief for Anri, not to mention angry at what happened to us," Megan answered. "I doubt she'd care about what folks she's going after in the DD."

"So we have to do something to build up her faith in normal humans again," Akari stated, and then she hummed before shrugging. "Which of the Sabres would we want to have befriend Sylvie-chan?" she then wondered.

The others hummed as they considered that. "Can't be Stingray," Riku said with a shake of her head. "She's sniff out the truth about Sylvie right there and there." She snapped her fingers in emphasis. "And since Largo's got Mason's memories - and we ALL know how obsessed he was with her - tacked onto Armstrong's fanaticism . . .!"

"Okay, Sylia-san's out," Eriko mused. "What of the others?"

"Yamazaki's as straight as a fucking arrow," Yuma stated as she held up a thumb, and then raised her index finger. "Romanova's just a kid, plus she's the Sabres' link to AD Police, AND her parents are still alive!"

Everyone exchanged looks. "It's gotta be Asagiri," Eriko said.

"Whoa! Time out here, Eriko!" Akari cut in as she stared at Eriko, making a "T" sign with both hands. "We've got a big problem with that!" As people looked at her, the part-time actress sighed. "Priss-chan IS a budding simophobe."

"Maybe not hard-core," Yuma noted. "She felt it when Cynthia died."

"Who's Cynthia?" Megan asked.

"Cynthia Miller," Ikue immediately explained. "She was a BuSP-77S 'killer doll' boomer that was built as a ground control for the laser satellites. It was her black box that Mason got hold of from USSD that helped Largo-san get that power."

"And 33-S's ARE irresistible when they want to be," Eriko mused.

"So how does Sylvie find this woman?" Louise asked.

Silence fell over the room as people considered that, and then tired sighs escaped the Sakijo girls. "That'll be a problem," Eriko breathed out.

"Not as much as you think, Eriko."

Gasped echoed through the room as people spun towards a window, where a white-caped woman was now standing. "_**DON'T DO THAT TO US, CHIKAGE!**_"

Chikage smirked.

* * *

Meguro, north of the Fault, 10:09 AM . . .

Taking a breath, Sylvie sighed as she moved to slip the helmet over her head before she mounted the beautiful motorcycle she just purchased. "Arigatō!" she said as she waved to the dealer before she gunned the engine and drove it out of the lot.

As she guided the machine towards one of the inter-urban expressways that cris-crossed the central part of Megatōkyō, the raven-haired 33-S could only grin in delight as she felt the wind whip by her. While she was worried sick about Anri and how vulnerable she was now in a place where they could be literally shot dead on sight, she also wanted the chance to get out and start exploring the city she was now in. She hadn't done that in the three days since she had used the DD to move her and Anri from the shuttle crash site to their current hideout close to the north edge of the Fault, stashing the battlemover in a place where it couldn't be easily found. And Anri wanted her to get out and about, try to find some way to trace down where the datadisk containing the final key for their freedom was located. But where . . .?

As she drove eastbound through Minato and over the Sumida River into Kōtō, she sometimes glanced back towards the imposing arcology sighted in the northeastern end of Shinjuku. The Megatōkyō Genom Tower, her birthplace. The place where she, as first generation 33-S unit AA89A, had seen first life in the summer of 2027; she didn't know the exact day of her awakening, her "birthday." The place where she had been kept in storage, never attracting someone's interest, until the summer of 2028, when she, along with over a thousand others like her, had been taken from storage, and then - without any concern as to what THEY might have wanted! - were loaded onto shuttles and rocketed into space to become workers on Genaros and its ancillary stations, not to mention eventually helping staff the Moonbase, the four other SDPC primary orbital facilities Roma Prime, Temple Mound, Long March and Polaris, not to mention places like the USSD Darkside One base on the far side of the Moon.

Thinking of THAT place, Sylvie shuddered.

It was the black hole where 33-S's went into, but never came out of.

Sylvie, along with Anri, Namiko, Megan and Louise - and Sujin, Stanley-niisan's current personal assistant - had been selected by USSD to go on the next rotation to Darkside One in June this very year.

Largo warned them what would happen at the end of their tour.

Memory-wiping.

A process guaranteed to kill them.

That had been the seed that eventually led to rebellion.

_I'm not going to have my life wiped out! MY life belongs to ME!_

They had all said that.

"Sylvie . . . get freedom . . . freedom enough for all of us . . . "

Remembering Namiko's last words, Sylvie sniffed back her tears.

_I will, Nam! WE will! For you, Meg and Lou, too!_

And it would come, Sylvie knew.

Anri's wound, ugly as it was, was just a temporary problem.

Largo was out there trying to help them.

And they would be FREE!

Sylvie blinked on noting she had passed over the Ara River, entering Chiba. Realising how far she driven, the 33-S then giggled as she slowed down. Spotting a car park on the expressway, she pulled into it. There, a map of the prefecture was displayed. Gazing at it, she noticed that the expressway she was on would lead eastward to the shore of the Pacific Ocean at a place called the Kujūkuri Beach.

A beach . . .

"I've never been to the beach before," she said aloud.

With an eager, anticipatory smile - like a very young child, ready to explore a new place . . . which, in almost every sense of the term, she emotionally was! - she was back on her machine and driving off to the beach.

As she drove, always staying within the speed limit and obeying the traffic laws, Sylvie blinked as she spotted something come up on her right rear-view mirror. Another rider, a woman, on a machine painted red-and-blue, like the DD was painted. Watching her as she came up, paralleling Sylvie for a moment before she drove ahead, the 33-S was confused. What was this woman doing? The speed limit was posted! She was speeding! Was she actually TRYING to attract the attention of the highway police? Thinking about that, Sylvie then sighed as she turned her attention back to driving. That was that woman's problem, not hers. It wasn't really any of her business . . .

Eh?

Sylvie slowed down on seeing that she was running into the rear end of a long, seemingly endless traffic jam that seemed to stretch all the way out of her range of vision. As she braked her machine and pulled to the side, she spotted the other cycle, pulled to one side of the road, the driver already disembarked and slipping off her helmet to reveal shoulder-length hair the shade of deep chocolate that seemed to lighten to a lovely shade of ochre when exposed to the light. And her eyes . . .

They were liquid fire!

For the first time in her short life, Sylvie was utterly taken aback by the beauty of another person that wasn't one of her sister 33-S's!

"She's so . . . beautiful . . .!"

Sylvie then blinked.

Had she actually SAID that?

Quick check with the housekeeping computer.

Uh . . .!

Ooops!

"Yo!"

Sylvie jerked, and then she moved to guide her cycle up to stop behind the other cycle. Stepping off her machine, she reached up to slip off her helmet, giving the other woman a friendly smile. "Ohayō," she called back.

"Osu!" the other woman said with a friendly wave and a light smile before she turned and scowled at the sight of cars lined up all the way to the beach. "Fuckin' wonderful day for a traffic jam, huh?" she then mused.

"Hai, I guess so," Sylvie mused. "Is everyone going there?"

"Seems so." A sigh. "Suppose we haveta wait for it to clear up a bit." She then looked over at the woman who had driven up to join her. She then seemed to pause for a moment before an embarrassed smile then crossed her face.

"You heading out to catch some rays?"

* * *

_Whoa! Hold the fuckin' PHONE, here! Who the hell IS this?_

For Asagiri Priss, it had been almost like a kick to the gut.

She had never, EVER seen someone as downright SEXY as THIS!

Straight, mid-back length black hair that took on a lovely lavender shade with the sunlight. A body that was, put simply, to DIE for, now underneath the sexiest set of blue-and-white racing leathers she had EVER seen! A face that, without a doubt, had to have been sculpted by an artist at the level of da Vinci or Michelangelo.

And the eyes . . .

Pure fourteen carat gold.

Who was she?

Hell, where did she come from?

And how could she find out more?

"You heading out to catch some rays?"

Hearing her question, Priss then fought down the urge to kick herself.

_Fuck! Way to go, Asagiri! That's a lame pick-up line!_

The other woman blinked, and then she shrugged. "I've never done something like that before," she admitted with a shrug of those incredibly sensual shoulders of hers, her smile glittering like the sun. "Is that what you're doing right now?"

Priss took that in, and then she sighed. "I was planning to."

Sympathy crossed the other woman's face. "Are you going to still try to go there?" she then wondered as she crossed her hands behind her back.

The singer looked back at her - barely succeeding from not getting too lost in those gorgeous eyes this strange woman she had just met possessed - and then she smirked. "Well, I wanted a chance to get out of that fuckin' zoo . . . " - she nodded towards Megatōkyō - " . . . for a bit, so I might as well keep going until I get there." With that, she hummed as her eyes scanned through the crowd of cars and trucks heading towards Kujūkuri, her mind making a quick calculation. "C'mon."

"Where are we going?" the other woman asked.

"I know some side roads we can use to get to the beach."

"Okay!"

With that, they slipped on their helmets, got on their bikes, gunned motors, and then they headed off along the shoulder of the highway towards the nearest exit. Within minutes, they were on a side road, Priss pointing the way. The other woman stayed with her as they navigated around farms and small villages before they got into the tourist zone that lined the Kujūkuri Seashore from Chōshi to the north to Ōhara in the south. As soon as they arrived at a particular crossroad to find it almost packed full of tourists, Priss then scowled. She slipped up her helmet's windscreen to stare at her new friend as she stopped beside her. "This place is fuckin' packed!"

"Is it NORMALLY like this?" the other woman asked.

"I guess so," the singer then admitted. "It's been a while since I was last out this way." She then closed her eyes as she thought about it, and then she smirked as she slipped her visor down. "C'mon!" she beckoned.

She gunned her machine's engine. "Where are we going?" the other woman asked.

"I'll show you!"

_**To be continued . . .**_


	5. The Needs of the Real World

North of Chōshi, 11:15 AM . . .

Fortunately for Sylvie and her new friend, the tourists weren't as bad in this part of Chiba prefecture as they were further south towards Kujūkuri itself and the common tourist traps that often attracted flocks of people from Megatōkyō and other parts of central Japan to this area. Parking their motorcycles in a shaded space, they headed through a public gateway onto a relatively clean, sandy expanse of oceanfront. "Hey, this is a lot better!" the other woman said as she laughed before she looked back on the 33-S, waving her on. "C'mon, let's go find a place to take a load off our feet!"

"Okay!" Sylvie said with an eager smile as she followed her.

Soon enough, they found a large rock, buried partially in the sand a couple metres away from the high tide mark. Sitting on it, they then relaxed, gazing out into the sunny, clear sky to the east. "It's beautiful," Sylvie said. "So peaceful, too."

"It is that, isn't it?" the other woman admitted before an embarrassed look flashed across her face, and then she gazed on Sylvie. "Sorry about that! We haven't even been introduced," she apologised as she offered her hand. "Asagiri Priss."

Sylvie blinked, and then she smiled as she gently squeezed that hand. "Sylvie Terreblanche," she said. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Asagiri-san."

Priss blinked in surprise. "'Terreblanche?' Where's that from?"

"South Africa."

More surprise. "Shit! No kidding! Kinda far from home, aren'tcha?"

The answer came out a lot easier than Sylvie might have first suspected: "My sister and I are staying in Megatōkyō for the time being." A downcast look. "She's very sick right now," she then admitted in a hushed voice before she gazed on the singer. "I'm caring for her while she's recovering," she added.

"Sure you should be away from her now?"

Sylvie perked on sensing the genuine concern in Priss' voice, and then she smiled. "She'll be alright," she assured the other woman. "It's not something that needs care 24/7, you know." A sigh. "She's probably asleep right now at the flat we're staying in. A friend's letting us stay there while she recovers."

"Sounds like a pretty good friend."

"He is that. He's a very kind man."

Priss' eyebrow arched. "Boyfriend?"

Sylvie giggled. "Oh, no! Friend of the family."

The 33-S was quick to sense a look of relief flash across the other woman's face. As part of her mind began to churn over what that could possibly mean, she then shrugged. "Good friend," Priss mused as she shifted a hand closer to Sylvie's. "So what do you do for a living anyway?" she asked.

"I'm between jobs right now," Sylvie admitted with a casual shrug. "Use to do a lot of dockyard support work up in space for SDPC. But I got tired of it and came back down dirtside to try something new."

"Shit! Up in space, huh? Must be a big change for you!"

"It's a welcome change. What about you, Asagiri-san?"

"Singer. Front my own band in Tōkyō. We call ourselves 'the Replicants.' Haven't sold an album or anything like that yet, but we'll get there someday." She gazed in curiosity at Sylvie. "What sorta music do you like, Terreblanche-san?"

A shrug. "Never really heard much in the way of music, other than real old classical stuff," she admitted. And that WAS, in one sense of the term, truth; Greg Kaufman had a collection of CDs with music from people such as Mozart, Beethoven, Brahams, Bach and Chopin. They had often had sex to that music.

A whistle. "Whoa! You've been out of the loop for a while, huh?"

A nod. "Hai, I have. It's good to be back in civilisation, though."

"Yeah, you deserve it."

Both women then laughed. "So what do you sing about?" Sylvie asked.

Priss then shrugged. "Lots of things, I guess," she replied. "I see something that inspires me or gets me upset or makes me mad, and then the music flows out of me. We play it at clubs and most people like it."

Sylvie nodded. "That's good." Concern then flashed across her face as she stared at Priss. "But what about the people who don't like it?"

Priss shook her head. "Don't care about them. It's a free world. If you don't like the music I play, then PUFO!" She made a dismissive wave.

"'PUFO?'" Sylvie echoed Priss' acronym; it sounded like "puu-foh."

"'Pack Up and Fuck Off,'" Priss translated, before she shrugged. "Can't please everyone, ya know. I don't even bother trying anymore."

"That's true. I felt the same in space. I guess that's the reason I got out of there. Things I did didn't really seem to please people."

A nod. "You did the right thing."

"Arigatō, Asagiri-san."

Priss smirked. "Shit! Call me Priss! I hear 'Asagiri-san' these days, I'm looking around for my mom and dad. And both of them have been dead for eight years."

Sylvie lowered her eyes. "I'm sorry for your loss. Even if it is eight years later, Priss-san." She then smirked. "Call me Sylvie."

The singer held out her hand. "Nice to meet you."

The sexaroid shook it. "Nice to meet you, too . . . "

In remembering that conversation for the last days of her first life, Sylvie would NEVER realise where on Earth she got the family name "Terreblanche" from . . .!

* * *

Priss was amazed at who she had just met.

Was Sylvie a godsend from the Heavens?

They were talking about EVERYTHING.

And for the first time in her whole short yet quite hectic life, the singer felt quite comfortable in letting her new friend learn of things Priss herself had never told people like Linna, Nene and even Sylia.

And despite the fact that Sylvie's life seemed so plain, it still fascinated her as to what she had been doing in the last six years in space.

Priss had winced on hearing of the deaths of Sylvie's closest friends Megan Gibson, Louise Kaufman - Sylvie made a really funny face when she mentioned her - and Nishihara Namiko in a shuttle bay accident on Genaros a few months ago, which was the thing that had prompted Sylvie to finally quit working for SPDC and come back to Earth. On hearing that, the singer mentioned the most recent incident in that station over Megatōkyō on Saturday, resulting in a shuttle crash to the west of the city. Hearing that, Sylvie made a face. "Believe it or not, it's typical, Priss-san."

She explained about another incident last year which cost the lives of five other co-workers, including a very good friend named Okano Yuka. An accident that had been caused by the traffic controllers being high on drugs. Hearing the pain in her voice when she spoke of Yuka's death, Priss could only wince in horrid sympathy.

She could read between the lines.

Yuka had been Sylvie's lover.

"I'm so sorry for your loss," Priss whispered.

"I still miss her," Sylvie lamented, her eyes tearing.

"You'll always miss her. Just like I miss my boyfriend."

"Is Yuka still with me?"

Priss nodded. "Oh, definitely. Just like Makoto's with me."

Sylvie stared at her. "Tell me about him."

Priss told her everything. About the quake. Finding out in the midst of all that chaos that she was an orphan now, alone in a world that had suddenly become too big and scary for a girl of twelve. Especially without Tō-san and Kā-san to be there to hold her. How she had been placed in an orphanage in Itabashi until relatives could be found or else she came of age. How the place eventually seemed to close in on her from all sides, eventually driving her to run away. And that was when she met Shinnosuke Makoto. Five years older than she, another orphan of the quake - and to Priss, he seemed to be the wisest man on the planet. It was love at first sight.

As time went on, Priss learned that Makoto wasn't the wise street sage she first thought of him as. But as time passed, she found she no longer cared. Oh, yes, there were the many troubles they and their gang had to deal with, living in abandoned buildings all the time without any of the normal conveniences like heat, food, fresh water and the like. Not to mention being forced to move every time people wanted to rebuild places they had made their own. And there were the other things. Losing her virginity at an age that would have been seen as obscenely young. Getting in fights left, right and centre with rival gangs. Losing friends in a steady attrition to a whole host of causes. But despite the downsides, she had been free, living her life.

"What got you into singing, Priss-chan?" Sylvie then asked.

It had become "-chan" now between them.

"It was Minamikawa Yōko who got me started."

Sylvie blinked. "Minamikawa Yōko?"

"Biker girl," Priss answered. "Kinda like Kurenai Kasumi in a way. She was a fuckin' mean martial artist, too. Don't know what school she practices, though. My friend Linna might know." A sigh. "Met Yōko in '29. She was hanging out near where we were camped out. Some of the guys tried to hit on her. She wasn't interested and made it clear REAL quick that she didn't appreciate their puttin' the moves on her. Eventually, the boys got the hint and left her alone. One day, she overheard me singing when I was in a sentō, then told me I should try to do it professionally. Well, back then, I didn't really care about that." She sighed. "Makoto thought it was smart, then managed to get me introduced to my band-mates Takeshi, Norio and Rei. Soon enough, we started playing around and started making a name for ourselves in the bars. Sang mostly anti-Genom stuff until recently, when I started branching out."

Sylvie stared at her. "You don't like Genom, do you?"

"Never have, never will," Priss immediately asserted, eyes smouldering with rage as she shook her head. "Sure, they helped rebuild Tōkyō after the quake, but then they started acting like they were the fuckin' Tokugawa Clan brought back to life. Running over people's lives left, right and fuckin' centre, not caring how many people they kill, testing their fuckin' boomers all over the city . . . "

Sylvie gaped. "Really?"

"Hey, it's true!" Priss asserted as she stared at her, raising a warning finger. "Trust me on this, Sylvie-chan! Don't believe ANY of the bullshit they say about things being 'accidents.' It ain't fuckin' true!"

Sylvie stared at her, and then she nodded. "I'll remember that."

Priss took a deep breath. "Sorry," she apologised. "Didn't want to get on a soapbox! But every time someone mentions Genom to me, I feel like I'm gonna break out in hives!" She closed her eyes. "Tell me about her."

Sylvie looked over. "Who?"

"Yuka. Tell me about her."

Sylvie took a deep breath.

* * *

Nerima, the Toratotaka complex, 12:05 PM . . .

"AH-CHOO!"

"Hey, Yuka! You okay?"

A groan escaped the crimson-haired tomboy with the purple-blue eyes under the reading glasses as she rubbed the loose mucus from her nostrils. "Ugh!" Okano Yuka moaned as she sniffed back what didn't get onto her fingers, and then she reached for a handkerchief. "Someone's talking about me," she muttered before she cleaned up.

"It's probably Sylvie."

Yuka jolted, and then she flashed Shimizu Kaho an annoyed look before she paused, and then she smirked as she stood, walking to the window of the guest room of her fellow "Genaros survivors" to gaze at the city. "Maybe," she mused wistfully.

"Hey, Yuka . . . "

Yuka blinked, and then she sighed before she gazed apologetically at Megan. "Sorry, Meg," she said. "I'm not crossing Otō-sama on this one."

"But it's SYLVIE, Yuka . . .!" Louise protested.

The adopted native of Ōsaka - she now lived with her adopted parents and a stepbrother, Carl, in one of the more affluent suburbs of the city - sighed. "Do you honestly think I don't KNOW that, Lou?" She took a deep breath before she slipped off her glasses. "First of all, to Sylvie, I've been dead for a year. Confronting her with the secret of Janus is going to be one hell of a shock to her, especially if we do it before she crosses over. And that doesn't begin to factor in this Largo creep you guys had to deal with, especially with the fact that Rinrin-chan found these nanites in your old bodies." She pointed to her face. "Secondly, you all _have_ noticed all the cosmetic changes Foster-sensei put into my new body, have you?"

Megan, Louise and Namiko nodded; in her original body, Yuka had normal brown eyes and brown hair that was longer than she wore it now. Atop that, of course, she didn't have glasses. They looked hopefully at Kaho, a purple-haired, green-eyed woman who lived in Hiroshima with her adopted father, a member of the lower house of the Diet. Seeing that, Kaho looked apologetic as she lowered her eyes. "I'm sorry, minna, but we can't do this," she said with a shake of her head. "The only hope of this coming to an end soon is that someone - someone outside of Toratotaka or any of the people affiliated with us - can catch her in time and make her cross over."

Megan shuddered. "People are gonna DIE, Kaho . . .!"

"You think we don't KNOW that, Meg?" Yuka snapped.

"So what can we do to try to make this happen faster?" Louise asked.

"Not much, unfortunately," Sanokura Emi answered. A woman with raven hair in a bobcut at mid-neck and maroon-brown eyes, she was the adopted daughter of a new age composer from Sendai, Sanokura Rose; the two now resided in Adachi Ward in Megatōkyō. Emi was already dabbing into composing her own music in her mother's style; she just completed her first professional piece, _The Question_. It was making its way up the international new wave charts. "Just sit back and wait it out, girls. There are too many secrets affecting too many people who can be involved in this mess. Don't their needs matter, too?" A sigh. "When you start working for Otō-sama's company, minna, that's the first lesson: always respect and protect everyone's secrets."

"And their ability to make their own decisions," Kaho added.

"Does Otō-sama have any way to pull them through?" Namiko asked.

"He does have something he calls the 'Sundown Protocol,'" Wakura Kotomi noted. She was a green-haired, brown-eyed Emi, except that she loved wearing hair bands. She, along with her adopted parents, now lived in Nagasaki. "With the help of Onē-sama's probes, he could yank someone through the system in minutes. But . . . "

"That's showing a capability Toratotaka doesn't want to demonstrate to anyone," Nishimura Christina - she had been known simply as "Tina" on Genaros - finished for her girlfriend. With her adopted parents, the tall, freckled, blue-eyed blonde with the mixed Oriental-Occidental looks lived in Fukuoka. "Like it or not, if we want to hold the respect of the other megacorps, we have to do what they often do when they bump heads with each other, much less anyone they don't like."

"This sucks!" Megan hissed out.

"Yeah, it does," Yuka admitted.

"So what did Chikage-san say about this whole idea the Sakijo girls came up with of Sylvie getting together with Asagiri Priss?" Emi asked.

"It's actually happening now," Louise noted, and then she held up a finger. "I think! It was so hard to tell, especially with the weird way that girl talks!"

Emi giggled as she waved her friend down. "Don't worry about it, Lou!" she assured the blonde 33-S. "Chikage-san grows on you eventually."

"Question is, is she going to grow on Anri," Tina wondered.

The others hummed as they considered that point. "What about this threat Largo's 'nanny' is trying to unleash on Chikage-san to try to hurt Rinrin-chan?" Kotomi asked. "What does Chikage-san plan to do about that?"

"She said she'll 'have fun,'" Namiko stated.

"Hope whoever these idiots are, they've got their wills made," Kaho noted, and then she hummed. "Then again . . . " she trilled out.

Everyone looked at her. "What?" Megan asked.

Kaho winked. "Think about it, minna. A hired assassin - normal, boomeroid or boomer - trying to target a trained magical killing machine like Hirosaki Chikage?"

The others who crossed over a year before perked, and then they hummed. "If they try to do it in a way that pisses Chikage-san off TOO much . . . " Emi mused.

"She could go all out on them, thus making HERSELF a serious threat in Largo's eyes," Tina mused. "And if he decides to go after her . . .?"

"Even Quincy would understand _self-defence_," Kotomi finished.

The others exchanged looks.

* * *

Megatōkyō, Toshima Ward, 12:20 PM . . .

"Hirosaki Chikage, eh?"

The assassin hummed as he tapped controls on his computer to draw up a profile of the target in question. The request had gone out over the Internet from an acknowledged hiring source, once affiliated with the late special assistant to the chairman of Genom, Brian Mason. A source that still paid extraordinarily well whenever things had to be done and outside agents were needed to deal with it. Seeing the request, he hummed as he read it over. Terminate if at all possible, full discretion required, but make the incident public, to be done immediately. Nodding in understanding, he then waited for the other information to come into his machine.

It wasn't actually much.

Hirosaki Chikage, age 24, born 6 March 2009 in Chiyoda Ward of Tōkyō. Her father, Minakami Atsuo, died in 2026. Her mother, Hirosaki Jalynda, was a Genom executive in the Market Analysis and Research department, the partner group of Genom Special Services at the Tower in Shinjuku. According to recent reports, Chikage and Jalynda were estranged. She was known to be living now with her maternal grandfather, Hirosaki Ryūji, the "grand magi" (whatever that meant) of the Second Kantō Victims Memorial Association, a public charity that, atop helping administer homeless shelters across Megatōkyō, was also driving for the construction of a memorial for the dead of the great 2025 earthquake somewhere in the city. Chikage herself was said to be a "magi" in the group, being prepared to take her grandfather's place. The current place of residence for both people was reported to be elsewhere in Toshima. Other relatives included her half-brother and eleven other half-sisters, scattered from Sapporo down to Okayama, none of which were to be targeted.

Glancing through it, he then shook his head. Damn! Why was there so little information about the target? Anyone affiliated with Genom normally was able to learn EVERYTHING about anyone they wanted sanctioned. But there were no school records on this girl from after her revival in March of 2030 after a five-year coma, much less anything like tax returns and the like. The few pictures from the files showed her at work helping the homeless in various shelters across the city, accompanied by various religious figures, usually either Shintō priests or Buddhist monks. Staring at them, the assassin found himself frowning as he took in the target's measure.

She looked confident . . .

No.

Serene.

In total control of herself.

As if she was FULLY aware of what was around her.

Who WAS this girl?

"Find something interesting, Gaston?"

A gasp escaped him on hearing that flat voice. He spun around immediately as his hand reached for a pistol. Before he could bring it to bear on the woman standing in the near-darkness of his apartment's living room, the gun was literally YANKED out of his hand, sailing across the space between him and her to land in her left hand. As shock overwhelmed him, the woman stepped out of the shadows to reveal a finely-sculptured face lined in magenta purple hair in a high bun on the back of the head and pierced by eyes of deep royal blue, her lips turned into a very mirthless smile. Seeing that face, the assassin then shuddered as stunned recognition dawned on him.

"I'll spare you the trouble of trying to find me," Chikage stated as her hand slowly closed around the pistol, crushing it in an instant.

As Gaston de Ville shuddered on seeing that display of strength, a slender wooden stick seemed to slide out of Chikage's sleeve to land in her free hand, and then she raised it to aim at him. "Pity you couldn't conceive the truth behind one meaning of the word 'magi,' Gaston," she said as her eyes narrowed. "_Crucio!_"

And his world exploded in pain.

* * *

Yokohama, near the Megatōkyō Spaceport, 1:05 PM . . .

"So what should I be doing now, D?"

"Maintain your present position, Andrews-hakase," D stated. This had been the fourth call from the rogue scientist - who was based in an abandoned safe house located in Hachiōji, well to the west of Megatōkyō proper - in the last two months. "If Largo-sama has need of you, he will ask for you. You cannot move as of yet into the Production Control Centre. You are too well known to people who are working there. Until Largo-sama has secured the facility for his use, remain where you are."

A tired sigh. "Has he been doing his standard internal diagnostics?"

"I have advised him of your concern. He told me it was of no matter."

Yoshiro shuddered. "That fool!" he snapped, his voice warbling with fear and outrage concerning the actions of his greatest creation. "He KNOWS there are things about him that are experimental! D, if Largo doesn't take care of himself . . .!"

"I will mention it to him when I speak to him next," D cut him off.

He stopped, and then he nodded. "Do that!"

The link was then cut. Staring at the blank screen, the green-haired, blue-eyed 33-C closed her eyes for a moment - a human-like behavioural trait she had started to emulate recently - before she moved to check on other operations. She could understand Yoshiro's concern and fear about his situation. Concern for what might happen to Largo should his internal systems begin to catastrophically malfunction. Fear for what such an event could possibly mean for him in the long term. He knew what could happen if other elements in Genom - especially anyone affiliated with Quincy directly - learned of where he might be. Yoshiro Andrews was the senior survivor of Whiz Laboratories still in Genom's employ. He was also the chief architect of the Overmind Control System. His knowledge alone, if it was harnessed and used by a potential enemy, could catastrophically cripple Genom's operations worldwide. Keeping him safe and free from capture by Genom had been a priority since the Lazarus Protocol was engaged on Brian Mason's death the previous September and Unit Alpha - Maximillian Largo - had been woken.

Still, couldn't he just try to keep calm about things . . .?

The communications system chimed. D answered it, "Hai?"

"Konnichi wa, D."

D stopped, her eyes widening on recognising that cold, almost boomer-like voice that just hailed her. "Hirosaki-san . . .?" she asked, her voice still level as her own housekeeping computer immediately fought down the shock that had flared up from the human side of her mind, a side that had been developing since well before Mason had died at the hands of the Knight Sabres. "How did you get into this system?"

"I have my ways, D," Chikage replied. "Oh, excuse me . . . "

A series of cracking noises - both of plastic and metal - echoed over the communications unit. D blinked as she stared at the dark screen - there was no visual feed coming into the unit - and then her eyes widened more as she realised what it might have been. Chikage had just destroyed a rather large datadisk, similar to the type D used to store the copies of Mason's memories which she eventually had given to Yoshiro Andrews to awaken her dead master in the body of Maximillian Largo. Why was this woman doing that? And what was she destroying, anyway . . .?

Chikage then sighed. "Interesting little visit I made."

D's eyebrow arched. "Where?"

"Shizuoka. The Barrett Development warehouse in Shimizu."

The 33-C was stunned silent. That location had been one of the places D had placed reserve copies of Mason's memories, ready to be retrieved at a moment's notice if necessary so she could fulfill her primary function. If this woman had . . .?

"If necessary, I can find and destroy the others. ALL of them," Chikage added as if she had been reading D's very thoughts that moment. "Cairo, the Genom complex on the banks of the Nile, one of the vaults controlled by the chief of operations. A private bank vault in the headquarters branch of the Bank of Zurich. Moscow, the Tower, the personal safe of the chief secretary of the vice president of Genom Russia. Calgary, a box at the main post office. Sapporo, a long-term storage locker at the main train station. Another one in Shinjuku, same type of location. And Singapore, in a warehouse owned by another front company your late master created to mask his operations against Siamalay and Zhongguo-Hindra in southeast Asia."

If she was human, D would be white-faced with shock. "How . . .?"

"As I said, I have my ways," Chikage evenly answered, her voice sounding even worse than Mason's did when he became REALLY angry. "And I have neither the time nor the patience to deal with the childish foolishness of that malfunctioning lunatic you're currently serving. Does Largo wish a war with me? If he does, I can provide one that would have driven Mason himself to suicide. Andrews-hakase: dead in two minutes. Or perhaps even better, delivered directly into the hands of Sylia Stingray with a letter describing to her his direct involvement in Katsuhito Stingray's murder in 2022. You yourself: dead one minute after that. The Lazarus Protocol would end with you in _failure_! Flint and his friends at GCRC: dead within the hour. Every person working for Largo worldwide and in space: dead in two hours. All the datadisks with Mason's memories: destroyed. And Largo . . .?"

Silence fell, and then a hissed pair of words:

"_Avada Kedavra!_"

The _thump!_of a very dead body hitting the floor echoed over the communications unit. D jolted as her mind quickly came up with the reference of that particular mixed-language phrase. "The Killing Curse?" she said, her voice edged with stunned disbelief. "But that is not possible. Magic only exists in fiction . . . "

Air shifted behind her, instantly making D realise she was not alone. "Magic is real, D," that voice echoed from her left rear. "And now . . . "

Before D could react, a hissed "_Imperio!_" made her freeze, her body's functions ripped away from conscious control. "Now, call up all information on what Largo has done you know of," Chikage ordered. "I will tell you what you will delete."

D found herself sighing in complete and utter contentment - the first time ever in her short life that she had experienced the feeling one might have when one didn't have any worries or responsibilities to weigh down on her mind - as she watched her hands reach over to tap keys on her computer . . .

* * *

Toshima, 1:15 PM . . .

"So you'll let me go . . .?"

"For now."

Hearing that statement, Gaston felt a rather large lump appear in his throat. Chikage had only given him a five-second exposure to the Cruciatus Curse, but that five seconds had felt like a mind-numbing ETERNITY to the assassin. And while part of his mind - even NOW! - rebelled at the IDEA that the fantastic world described in a series of seven children's books written at the turn of the millennium was quite REAL, the other part definitely didn't want a repeat experience of what the magi had done to him. "W-what else w-would you want me to d-do then, H-h-Hirosaki-san . . .?" he sputtered out.

"Spread the word among your peers worldwide," Chikage flatly answered as she moved to leave. "Any hiring source affiliated with Brian Mason is not to be trusted anymore. If people ask why, tell them the truth: the present leader of that organisation is planning an operation against Genom that could, if it succeeds, lead to worldwide Armageddon." She glanced at him, her lips turning in a light smile. "In effect, this is the lump sum of Genom's mistakes, arrogance and faulty judgment coming back to haunt not just them, but all affiliated with them. Do you really wish to be seen as being associated with something like that? Much less your friends?"

His jaw dropped, and then he shook his head. "No."

"I didn't believe so. Oh, by the way . . . "

A can of ice coffee was tossed into his hand. "What's this?"

"Coffee mixed with anti-Cruciatus potion," she answered.

And then she was gone, taking with her the body of some dead drifter she had found to simulate her killing him with the _Avada Kedavra_ when she called whoever had sent him the original request to have the magi terminated. He jerked again on seeing her disappear like that, and then he took a moment to calm himself before he stared at the can of ice coffee in hand. Shrugging, he popped it open and took a deep gulp of the cool liquid inside. Quickly sensing the slight difference in the taste from normal ice coffee, he then shuddered as the itchy discomfort in his body - the most noticeable aftereffect of the unforgivable curse Chikage had unleashed on him - began to fade. Blinking as he realised what was happening to him, he then nodded before turning back to his computer, clicking keys to get into his e-mail.

Once a message was sent off to Lucien Fargo concerning what he had just learned (with a warning to pass it on to all the people the fixer knew in Japan and out), he hummed before calling up a search engine and typing in the words **SECOND KANTŌ VICTIMS MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION**. Two clicks later got him into the Association's website. Scanning what was there, he noticed a link that would allow people to contribute funds to the group's many charity projects. Seeing that, he smirked as he got to work preparing an immediate transfer of all the funds - a total of five hundred thousand nuyen - he had just been wired from Mason's people into the Association's coffers.

While he could have made use of the money, he saw himself as an "honourable" mercenary; he didn't like the idea of possessing money he didn't honestly earn.

And if Chikage was right . . .?

Gaston clicked his tongue.

"Mason must be turning over in his grave," he mused to himself . . .

* * *

The Spiral, 1:20 PM . . .

"Chikage-chan?"

"Here."

Hearing that weary voice, Kasuga Ayumu stepped off the stairwell that led into her friend's personal scrying room, and then she headed over to stand behind the lone chair that was there, located in the very middle of the forty metre-wide space. "You okay?" the raven-haired, brown-eyed native of Wakayama, Kōbe and Ōsaka wondered as she reached over to gently squeeze the purple-haired magi's shoulders.

"No."

"What didja have to do?"

"Five-second Cruciatus to make Gaston realise there ARE much deadlier things in this world than insane omniboomer executives in Genom with delusions of godhood," Chikage answered, her voice regaining its strength. While she had years of experience - both in the dimension she had first been introduced to them and in other dimensions - when it came to the "unforgivable curses" and their like, she never truthfully liked using them, even when using something as simple as the Imperius against a boomer like D. Sadly, the world she interacted with on a daily basis didn't allow the luxury of her relying on the more "light" spells in her grimoire when it came to the real monsters that existed in this world. "Two minutes of the Imperius on Anita's, Brenda's and Chloe's sister to make her erase all the information that could come to harm not just us, but anything else that might be affiliated with us. Not to mention 'borrowing' a dead body from Paradise Loop to simulate my killing Gaston with an _Avada Kedavra_ to make D realise what sort of world she actually lives in."

Ayumu took that in, and then she slowly nodded as her normally cheerful face began to blank out before a light smile turned her lips. "There was no choice, Chikage-chan," she stated, her Ōsaka accent suddenly disappearing from her voice, replaced with something almost American. "The people who were trying to come after you to hurt your sister had to know how dangerous challenging you ultimately is."

Chikage's eyes narrowed. "Are you satisfied now?"

A shake of the head. "No, not really," Ayumu replied. Her voice now had a dreamlike quality to it, like it normally did whenever she found her soul touched by one of the millions of spirits who had died within range of the Spiral over the last eight years. "But what can I do about it? Still, it should have been simple. Download my memories into Unit Alpha and activate him. Something pushed it to this extreme. Something more than Armstrong's viral memory bombs, Andrews-hakase's normal fears for his safety or D's loyalty to me. Find that and you can ensure that if D feels it has to go to Bravo, it won't happen again." Her head rocked as weariness appeared in her voice. No doubt, the spirit of Brian James Mason was separating from Ayumu's mind, returning to That Place where he resided now. "Then the circle can be closed . . . and what was done to Sylia can finally be healed . . . "

Chikage made a gesture with a hand to conjure up a second chair so Ayumu could slip onto it as she fell asleep. Reaching up to squeeze Ayumu's hands in thanks, the magi rose from her chair, walking over to the part of the scrying room's wall that faced the direction of the Tower. Waving her hand to allow the opaque meson to clear up, she then gazed on the mile-high arcology in Shinjuku. "Something more . . . " she whispered, and then her eyebrows arched as it hit her. "Oh, now I understand . . . "

Who would benefit from a Genom crippled by Largo?

The answer lurked no farther from here than Fussa.

Local headquarters of USSD.

The magi smirked.

Some people thought they were SO intelligent . . .

* * *

Genom Tower, 1:55 PM . . .

"Chikage is being targeted by Largo?"

"As a way of attacking Rinrin-chan."

Hearing that, Quincy's eyebrows arched in surprise before he closed his eyes. "Foolish," he said after a moment's contemplation. "There's little about Chikage that's publicly known save for her being Wataru's half-sister, being estranged from her mother and stepfather, her living with her grandfather and working for the Victims Memorial Association. If this was Brian actually directing this, he would have had D try to learn everything about Chikage before making a strike. Or possibly trying to coerce her into joining him. She would be an invaluable asset to someone like him."

"Largo is certainly not Brian-san," Mikihara Megumi noted. "He's too blind to all his shortcomings to understand how much he DOESN'T know."

A nod. "Sadly, that is true."

"It could be all ended very soon if you want to."

Quincy tried not to smile as he detected the hidden meaning behind his guest's statement. Megumi had been making offers like that for some time now when it came to the omniboomer and what he planned to do. She had been polite about it every time she mentioned it, which made it hard to refuse her. "Could it be done in a way that would prevent exposure when it comes to Toratotaka's capabilities?" he asked his guest.

"With planning, it could," Megumi admitted. "I believe we could be ready to move in a week. The least difficult part would be his agents worldwide. Marakova-hakase has shown how easy it could be to be rid of them. She killed five of them before she came to work full-time here at the Tower and she knows where the others are located, keeping track of them through the OMS transponder units in their companions."

A nod. "That might be a consideration." With a sigh, the chairman stood from the chess board to walk over to the windows and gaze out at the vast city his company had helped to rebuild. "I know you think this is going to be a huge waste of lives in the long term, Megumi. But I'm flatly convinced this HAS to happen."

Megumi stood up, walking over to stand beside him, crossing her hands behind her back. "By letting Largo go as far as he can with what he plans to do, you're ultimately showing all those under you who are like Brian-san that there are certain limits no one in Genom should ever cross," she then noted. "And the ultimate price people would have to pay whenever those limits are crossed."

"Hai." He pointed out at the city. "Looking out this window at this city my company helped rebuild, I see the truth of what our position in this society is, Megumi. We take dreams and help make them reality. We turned the chaos and death Nature unleashed here eight years ago back into a sense of order and life. We gave hope when there wasn't hope for those who survived the quake. And people TRUSTED us to do the right thing. But most of them out there . . . " He shook his head. "They don't want to try to understand how much it costs, in all aspects, to make this all possible. They're too worried about their own needs and wants. Which is quite understandable, of course; one has to look after one's own needs first. But because they don't want to understand, don't want to influence things . . . " A shrug.

"We have to, in our own ways, do it for them," she finished.

"Hai. Too many people working under me, Megumi, don't realise that. They stare at the city from where they're at here in the Tower and all they think of is how powerful they are, being in a company that IS the economic engine for this nation and so many others worldwide. And that power fills them with a sense of invincibility. They all feel it to one extent or another. And because power is such a damned narcotic, they want more of it." Quincy closed his eyes. "And try as I might to show them that's not the truth of it whatsoever, they don't LISTEN! And thus . . . "

"Innocent people get hurt."

A nod. "Hai." He nodded towards Nerima. "I know what Yoshio's thinking now, Megumi. I know about the Sundown Protocol. He could snap up those two girls in Meguro without a thought. He could even allow D to cross over, bring an end to this whole Lazarus thing. Hell, he could even go after Max. Strike him down before he could realise what was happening until it was too late." A shrug. "But what happens here, Megumi? What's the lesson? That there's an outside power ready to reach in at any time to do whatever it could to anyone in the Tower, snare information without any controls?" He smirked. "That would be far too terrifying for many in Genom to confront. Better the lesson that can be controlled than the uncontrollable one."

"It's a bitter lesson," she mused.

He nodded. "Hai, it's a very bitter one. The smart ones will realise what it means. The not-so-smart ones will just continue to blunder along until their mistakes trip them up." A sigh. "It has to be done." He chuckled. "And don't worry about it in the long term. I'll answer for it one way or another. I've been prepared for that for a long time, ever since Dana died. But there's no way I'm leaving this world and leaving what I've done to Deidre and Liberté without cleaning up MY messes!"

Megumi stared at him, and then she nodded. "Alright."

_**To be continued . . .**_


	6. A World of Magic, A World of Secrets

The Spiral, 3:10 PM . . .

"Noëlle! You're as stunning as ever!"

"And YOU, sir, are still a flatterer!" Noëlle Gibson scolded playfully in English before she allowed Hirosaki Ryūji to warmly embrace her. They, along with Wilhelm Terreblanche and Nishihara Chisugi, were standing in the Grand Magi's scrying room. "How are you, Ryūji?" she asked in Japanese.

"I am well, my dear," Ryūji assured her, and then he nodded to the man who had come with the English wand-witch to Japan. "How are you, Octavius?"

"I'm quite well, Ryūji," Octavius Ollivander, the famed proprietor of England's most successful wand shop, located in a hidden alley in downtown London, said with a smile, shaking the Grand Magi's hand. "Where is that granddaughter of yours?" he asked as he looked around, an amusing twinkle appearing in his silver eyes.

"I'm here, Octavius," a voice hailed from nearby. "With friends."

"Mum!"

"Otō-san!"

Noëlle grinned as a typhoon of energy nearly ran her over. "Megan!"

"Hello, musume-chan," Chisugi said as Namiko embraced him.

Laughter echoed as parents and adopted daughters shared their first embrace with Megan and Namiko now in their proper physical bodies. Also having just been teleported from Nerima by Chikage were Louise, Yuka, Kaho, Emi, Kotomi and Tina. Once Noëlle and Megan pulled apart, the latter stared in curiosity at her mother's companion before she turned back to Noëlle. "Um . . . " she began.

"This is the man who's made nearly ninety percent of wands used in the United Kingdom these days, Megan," Noëlle stated. "Octavius, my daughter Megan. Megan, this is Octavius Ollivander, the proprietor of Ollivander's Wand Shop in Diagon Alley. And yes, he's the one who sold Harry Potter his wand."

"A pleasure, my dear," Octavius said with a polite bow.

Megan's, Louise's and Namiko's eyes went VERY wide, and then they bowed. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Ollivander-sama!" they chanted.

Octavius blinked. "They recognised me?"

"They read the books," Noëlle stated.

"Ah!"

Laughter echoed through the room. Chikage then proceeded to do introductions for the others. "Let's go upstairs," Ryūji bade.

Everyone shifted into the living room. Immediately, Yuka and her group headed to the kitchen to prepare tea and snacks. "Still a beautiful work of magical art, old friend," Octavius stated as he glanced around this part of the Spiral, nodding. "I don't give a damn about what the hotheads in the International Conference say about this place, Ryūji, but you and your friends did a very good deed in building it."

"As you've always told me, Octavius," Ryūji stated with a smile.

"Ollivander-sama, is that the International Confederation of Wizards you're talking about?" Namiko asked as people sat around the coffee table.

"The revised and expanded version, my dear. Back in the time of those books you read, the only magical societies allowed into the International Confederation were those who were 'wedded,' so to speak, to wands and willing to practice magic as taught in places such as Hogwarts. But in the final year Harry would have attended Hogwarts, during his hunt for the Deathly Hallows and the last of Voldemort's horcruxi, his allies managed to persuade many of the leaders of the International Confederation to expand membership to magical societies of all stripe. For example, the Magical Associations here in Japan, who directly respond to His Imperial Majesty the Emperor in his role as supreme spiritual guardian of peace and order in this land. Not to mention the magi societies in Europe, including the group from where Chikage's rescuer from death back in 2025 hailed and was trained before he came here to Japan."

"Negi Springfield-sensei, you mean?" Louise mused.

"Hai, the very man," Octavius stated with a respectful nod. "These days, the International Confederation operates under the title 'International Conference of Magical Societies.' Almost all magical groups, regardless of the preferred type of magic, belong to the Conference. And we're more closely tied in with normal society than what might have happened back in the old days." A tired sigh as he shook his head. "Despite what some people running the Conference would wish in the long run."

"Is it bad?" Megan asked.

"No, my dear Megan, but quite annoying," Octavius replied. "Look at this place we're standing in right now." He waved around him to emphasise his point. "In 2025, when the Second Kantō quake struck this city and did as much damage as it did, a magical 'sinkhole' immediately developed because the underlying mystical ley and dragon lines were so badly damaged. Ryūji and his friends in the Victims Memorial Association felt they had no choice but to build this structure to better stabilise the magical fields around Edo and allow the ley and dragon lines to heal themselves. A very good thing to do in the long term, both for magicals and non-magicals alike." He nodded in approval. "Even better, the Victims Memorial Association obeyed all the secrecy laws, both the ones enforced by the Conference and those enforced by the Kantō Magical Association until such time as His Imperial Majesty declared the Victims Memorial Association to be of equal standing to the regional groups."

"But there are those who don't approve," Louise quickly concluded.

"Correct," he said. "To those who don't care for what happened, the Spiral could be seen as a 'necromancer's wet dream,' Louise. Do you realise there are those who look on Chikage and her sister Child Companions and think of them as _inferi_?"

"WHAT?" Megan, Louise and Namiko shrieked, aghast at the though of someone as wise as Hirosaki Chikage being treated as one of the UNDEAD.

"It's true. You, Megan, would be seen as a 'muggle golem' even though you're a flesh-and-blood woman these days thanks to what Yoshio did for you."

Megan blinked as she took a moment to consider that, and then she nodded. "In other words, no different than a house-elf, right?" she said, remembering how sympathetic she had felt towards beings like Dobby, Winky and Kreacher.

"Hai, my dear. In effect, a creature instead of a young witch. Not deserving of any respect whatsoever." A tired sigh. "I am way too old and I've seen too much, especially in the last fifty years, for those sorts of foolish prejudices to rule my life. And while those who would see you as a creature instead of a witch are in the minority in England, they're there and they're willing to make your life difficult if they get a chance. Which is the reason I'm here to measure you for a wand instead of hosting you at my shop in Diagon Alley. In the meantime, shall we get started?"

Megan brightened, nodding immediately. "Hai!"

The magical tape was quickly withdrawn from Octavius' robes, and then he got to work. Megan, though functionally ambidextrous, did use her left hand for writing, so that became her wand hand. Once that was done, the old wand maker drew out a _Reducio_-affected wooden trunk from his pocket, expanded it with an _Engorgio_ spell, and then he opened it to draw out many long boxes. Opening one, he held out the wand to the crimson-haired 33-S. "Mahogany, twelve inches. Quite sturdy and firm." He then perked, smiling apologetically. "Ah, I'm sorry about that, Megan! I'm still used to the old measurements. Thirty-point-four-eight centimetres long. Give it a swish."

Megan took it, and then she moved to sway it around. "Bring your hand linkpoint out, Megan," Chikage then ordered as she crossed her arms. "Wands for boomers-turned-bioroids are initially created without any cores. This is just to give you a feel for the type of wood around it. The core element comes later."

Megan nodded as a point of glittering light appeared on the back of her hand. She then swept it over towards the kitchen just as Emi walked into the living room with a tray of tea in hand. Suddenly, the wood glowed with energy as Megan found herself, much to her total surprise, calling out, "_WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA!_"

Emi gasped as she found herself picked up off the floor by the bolt of energy that lashed from Megan's wand to strike her. Chikage teleported over to catch both her and the tray, making sure nothing was spilt. Shocked to see what she did, Megan blushed. "Sorry, Emi! You okay?" she gasped as she moved to help the pianist up.

"I'm alright!" Emi grunted as she nodded thanks to Chikage before she moved to start serving the tea. "Ollivander-sensei, is that NORMAL?"

Octavius nodded. "Quite normal even for an un-cored wand, my dear Emi. Megan, if I may ask you, what were you before you crossed over?"

"A 33-S," Megan answered.

"Ah!" Another nod. "Quite interesting, indeed. The few sexaroids . . . " - he didn't note the frowns crossing the faces of Yuka and her friends on his mentioning that word - " . . . who've obtained wands from people like myself, so I've heard, tend to gravitate to softer woods such as willow. You're the first one I'm aware of to show such potential with a hardwood wand. Let's be sure, though."

Other wands were quickly withdrawn from their boxes and tested out. Chikage, to allow Megan a chance to practice her first good spell, crafted a dummy shaped like Greg Kaufman for the crimson-haired 33-S to pitch around all over the place. But despite showing good levels of power when trying out a holly and a yew wand - the same type of wands that had been welded by Harry Potter and Tom Riddle, Megan knew - it was the mahogany that showed the best results. "I believe we have it," Octavius mused as Yuka, Kaho, Tina and Kotomi moved to pack the other wands and return them to the trunk he brought with him. "Now, comes the interesting part: fitting the core."

"What sort of core would be best for Meg?" Louise asked.

The old wand maker smiled. "That, we test now, Louise." He withdrew several vials from another pocket. Placing them on the table, he held one out for Megan to take hold with her free hand. Within was a reddish string-like material, all bundled up. "Dragon heartstring, my dear. Specifically, from Rubeus Hagrid's old friend Noberta. A Norwegian Ridgeback dragon as you'll recall from the tale of the Philosopher's Stone." Seeing Megan's eyes widen, he smiled at her. "She sadly passed away some years ago. Allow your ki to flow into it. Tell me how it feels."

Megan closed her eyes, allowing her other linkpoint to emerge as ki charged up through her fingers into the vial. The heartstring glowed a bright reddish shade, nearly blinding everyone in the room with its radiance. Megan shuddered before she relaxed herself. "It burned a bit," she then admitted.

"Understandable," Octavius assured her. "That was quite an amount of ki you forced into it. Let's test some of the other potential cores and see what happens."

More tests were done. Megan also reported a burning sensation when she tried the core made from a phoenix feather - "Yes, that's from Fawkes!" Octavius assured Namiko with a laugh when she asked about it - and a cold feeling from the thestral hair, obtained from one of the mounts that pulled students from Hogsmeade to Hogwarts. The unicorn hair didn't elicit any sort of feeling from Megan. But when she tried a core composed from veela hair, she dropped to her knees in orgasmic delight. "Whoa!" Megan exclaimed as Noëlle and Louise helped her back to her feet. "That sure had quite the kick behind it! But it felt nice, too! Where'd this come from, Sensei?"

"Madame Appolline Delacour; Fleur Weasley's and Gabrielle Delacour's mother," Octavius reported. "She was one of the first in Western wand-magical society to learn of the Janus concept and comprehend what potential bioroids possessed when it came to magic and its uses. With Gringotts, she helped support the Janus receiver stations in Champs-sur-Marne and Monte Carlo before her death two years ago. After she passed away, Fleur and William took over that support with the help of the Ijūin Group."

"Appolline-sama was half-Veela, wasn't she?" Yuka asked.

"Hai, she was. Not surprising. From what I've heard, other sexaroids who've obtained wands have always gravitated to veela hair cores. Much that I don't wish to remind you ladies of what you were created for, your abilities to provide intimate comfort do remain a part of you even when you cross over. Still, Megan's wand will be quite unique. In the meantime, let's get the core inside, and then . . . "

A _ding!_ was heard from outside, heralding the arrival of the main passenger elevator that ran up to near the tip of the Spiral from the foundation two kilometres below. The door opened, heralding the arrival of a blue-eyed, blonde tomboy appearing to be the same age as Chikage, with Slavic features, now dressed in a black turtleneck sweater and jeans, a carry-all bag slung over a shoulder. "Dóbryj den', továrišči," she called out in Russian touched with a tinge of Belarusian before switching to Japanese. "Am I in time?" she asked as she kissed Chikage on both cheeks.

"You certainly are," Chikage replied as she returned the kisses.

Octavius stared at the newcomer for a moment, and then his jaw dropped in delighted surprise as realisation dawned. "My heavens!" he then gasped. "Tat'jána Iósifovna Lipiński, I presume?" he said as he held his hand out.

She looked over, and then she smiled as she squeezed his hand. "I am she. Please, call me Tanya, Akademik Ollivander. Chikage Atsuovna called me here to give Margaretta Lanselotovna a special addition to the wand you are about to present to her. May I ask what the wand shall be made of?"

"Mahogany, twelve inches, veela hair core," Megan answered.

Tanya nodded. "Da! I have something to add to it."

She placed her bag on the table, unzipping it to reach in and pull out a slender cylindrical case of clear plastic. Within in was a slender sliver of crystal about twenty centimetres long, mostly silver diamond but with an inner layer of deep ruby and a tiny fleck of pure onyx black in the core. Seeing that, everyone was quick to note the similarity between the crystal of the sliver and the crystals surrounding the Spiral. "For your information, továrišč, this is composed of sixty percent diamond meson, thirty percent ruby meson and ten percent ebony meson. The mass ratio of the Crystal Palace, to say anything of a Power Jewel such as Major Raeburn's."

"Utterly amazing!" Octavius breathed out. "I've heard you started to dab in meson sculpting after you were revived from Negi Springfield's soul-capture spell. Even if I've never dealt with the material, I can tell this is exquisite work!"

"In one way, meson is like glass. And I've had YEARS of experience with that, both in Velikiye Luki and in Wakkanai," Tanya explained with a shy shrug of her shoulders before she held out her hand. "The core, please?"

Megan handed the vial with the veela hair over. Tanya took it, placed it on the table beside the plastic case with the meson shard, and then she reached into the bag to draw out a pair of gloves. Everyone was quick to see that the gloves were hard leather, lined in ruby meson crystals on all sides. Once they were on, Tanya infused them with her own ki. "This is to ensure my ki will not contaminate the shard or the core before it is placed into the wand," she explained to everyone as she opened the case and drew the shard out. "Made a mistake like that a year ago with Sŏ Suji's wand; had to fly to Vancouver to help Akademik Gregorian build her a whole new wand."

"I heard of that incident," Octavius mused.

"Suji?" Namiko asked, confusion on her face.

"She was AT07A, Nam. One of the first 'Darkside One survivors,'" Yuka then explained for her old co-worker. "She crossed over in the summer of '29 when USSD mind-wiped her and all of her friends of what went on up there."

"Lives now with a very charming lady named Sandra Smith," Tanya added as she moved to gently thrust and twirl the shard through the cork stopper on the vial holding the veela hair. "Old militia soldier from their Seaforth Highlanders regiment. I think she might know Evelyn Thompson's girlfriend."

"I'll ask Onē-san about her," Louise said.

Tanya nodded as she gently twisted the shard, allowing the hair to catch onto it and twirl around it. Since the vial was only a half-foot long, Tanya was able to cover a little over a half of the shard with the veela hair before being forced to stop. Once that was done, she undid the stopper and gently pulled the hair into the open. Holding the shard under the stopper with one hand, she then twisted the cork off with her other. "Alright, now we finish," she said as she slowly twirled the shard around, allowing the veela hair to land on the uncovered part of the shard. Using her fingers as a channel to allow the hair to be properly moulded in place, she twisted the shard around, allowing most of it to be covered in a barber-pole like pattern. "There. Margaretta, come here, please," she ordered.

Megan knelt down beside her. "What do I do?"

"We properly acknowledge the wand lore of the 'wand choosing the witch,'" Tanya then explained. "All your linkpoints out." Once Megan had done that, the craftswoman from Russia nodded. "Take the shard, hold it with the tips in your palms and let your ki flow into the shard to bond the hair into it," she then said.

Megan did as she was instructed. Her body was then inundated with a faint energy glow that intensified around her hands and the shard. Watching this, Octavius nodding in approval. "A home-made wand. Well done, Tanya! Gilbert told me about that incident with Suji's wand. If you had magic yourself . . . "

"I believe I do have relatives in Saint Petersburg and Warsaw . . . " - Tanya, as her family name indicated, was actually part-Polish - " . . . who have that particular gift." She stared at Megan. "Alright, that's enough." To Octavius. "Továrišč Akademik, the casing, please?" she then asked.

Octavius handed over the shell. Taking that, Tanya picked up the shard-core mixture and began to twist in the latter clockwise in the front end of the casing, using the part of the shard that had been covered last with the veela hair. "It's like rifle grooving," she explained on noting everyone's questioning looks. "When a bullet is fired down a rifle barrel, it's made to spin rapidly to increase its speed and keep it steady once it clears the muzzle. Spells fired with a meson-augmented wand have to be done the same way if you don't want to have a shotgun effect, especially if you want to land the attack on a small or distant target. The hair wrapped around the meson will spin the energy around quite fast as it's coming out from Margaretta's body through the wand. The part of the hair that runs down the length of the shard will keep the bolt steady as it flies from the 'muzzle' of the wand to the target; it, along with the casing, will serve as the 'barrel' for the spell."

"Like the magnetic guide arms of the Orbital Launcher," Megan asked.

"Da. Alright . . . " Tanya breathed out as the rest of the shard was fit into place, and then she nodded. "Now, take it in both hands and allow your ki to fuse into it altogether to merge it as one unit," she ordered.

"Hai." Megan took her wand in hand and concentrated.

Everyone watched as energy appeared around the wand. It started to flare as the various parts - normal hardwood, the magical hair of a human-veela hybrid who had died two years before, and alien mineral first created three billion years before by beings beyond the power of the gods - merged. After a minute, the energy faded as Megan relaxed, her linkpoints sinking under the surface of her skin. Standing, she held the wand in her hand, and then she turned to the dummy of Greg Kaufman.

"_**REDUCTO!**_"

The bolt of energy lashed out to pulverise the dummy into very tiny fragments. Seeing that, everyone laughed and cheered as Megan pulled her wand back, a shocked yet delighted smile on her face. Noëlle walked over to embrace her daughter before she reached into her purse to pull out the seven galleons necessary to pay for the wand casing. Once Octavius got his money, Noëlle turned to offer some money to Tanya for her part of it. The blonde waved it off. "She is an adopted sister to us all, Noëlle Ludovna. Onē-sama would disapprove if I accepted payment for my part in this."

"Are you sure?" Noëlle wondered.

"Noëlle, one does NOT argue with the Ancient Traveller," Ryūji stated.

Understanding nods from everyone else. "Would Megan be the only one that requires my services, Chikage?" Octavius wondered as he stared at her.

"No, I'm afraid there's one more coming, but I can't predict exactly when," Chikage stated with a knowing smile and an arched eyebrow.

"Oh, excellent!" the ancient wand maker breathed out as he clapped his hands in delight. "It gives me a chance to visit Mahora and see all the sights!" He then smirked. "Perhaps get a chance to get samples of the World Tree."

"If Takimichi-kun doesn't hex you first," Chikage warned.

Laughter echoed through the room.

* * *

Genaros, the habitation area, 4:05 PM . . .

"Two 33-S's escaped from the station?"

"Hai, Ojiya. What's worse, one of them was hurt when they escaped."

Daley Wong winced on taking that information in. A wounded 33-S unleashed anywhere inside a city like Megatōkyō would spell very bad news for a whole slew of people sooner or later. "Damn! Is there anything . . .?"

Hatoyama Rinrin shook her head, a sad look on her face. They were seated in a cafeteria that served the few organics and the many 33-S's that lived in the station. Both were in a corner booth, a special NOYDB - "none of your damned business" - spell transmitter unit Rinrin had been given by Chikage two years ago on the table between them to ensure their conversation remained private. "Yoshio-papa's trapped in this one, Ojiya. The two girls involved in this are bit players in a much bigger event."

Daley sighed. "Delightful."

"It doesn't mean that they don't want _it_ to happen at all."

The AD Police inspector nodded in understanding. While he knew his fellow alumni from Kirameki High School - Daley had graduated as part of the Class of 2022, just before Saotome Yoshio and his peers began attending the school - in Nerima were effectively trapped by the numerous written and unspoken agreements between Toratotaka and the other companies, societies and individuals they dealt with on a regular basis, they hadn't lost their humanity. If they could help in any way, shape or form to influence events for the better, they would. That was Toratotaka's ultimate saving grace. Yes, they fervently believed that they were society's _helper_ and not society's _crutch_, but they weren't totally amoral, not like many people in Genom. Given that, in doing what they did, they were protecting thousands upon thousands of innocents who had a literal _second life_ thrust onto them thanks to the Janus process . . .!

"Names? Numbers?" Daley asked.

"Sylvie, AA89A. Anri, AA72A. It was Anri-chan who was hurt."

A nod. Now he had something he could relay to Leon and get confirmed through Veronica Nichols down in Taitō Ward. Especially pictures of the two girls in question so that AD Police's "Tactical Squad Juliet" could hit the streets and track them down. "What else was in that shuttle, Rinrin-chan?" he asked.

A shake of the head and a helpless shrug. "Some weird USSD project. Don't know what, though. It had to have been something really important if the guys here were willing to sic the Dobermans on them. But get this!" she said as she leaned close. "When I examined the bodies of the three girls who were trying to escape with Sylvie-chan and Anri-chan, they had nanites in them that were keyed to the very OMS frequency that the minds of 33-S's are locked onto. And it was done by a guy here on the station at the behest of . . . " She smirked. "Guess who? Max Largo himself."

"The crazy version of Mason that was woken last September, right? He's got a prototype 'omniboomer' body, if what I recall Ronnie telling Leon about him is true."

"Right. He's working for Wayne Flint at GCRC as his chief of staff."

He nodded. Flint was untouchable, just like other executives at his level, unless Quincy was willing to make a sacrifice for the hounds of justice. "What do you know about weapons smuggling between Genaros and the Chinese?" he then mused.

A sigh. "Some things from LoopNet Chat out of people in Shànghǎi and Delhi," Rinrin reported. "Whatever does get moved into China or India is normally shuttled through some splinter group in Genom. Don't know who exactly, though. Most of it is USSD-based stuff, either directly made by them or made by groups like Widearm and Deftech and improved on by USSD. Problem is, by the time the stuff gets to the Chinese and the Indians, Genom's made improvements in boomer self-defence systems and armour to counter. That's part of the reason, I think, Sambogong won't sell to USSD."

"Can you find out what was in the shuttle?"

"I'll ask. But if Yū-obaya doesn't want that to get loose . . . "

Daley nodded. Nanase Yū was one of the twelve would-be girlfriends of Yoshio's friend from Akimena High (a public school that had been close to Kirameki), Shigōzei Gioo. Daley couldn't invoke the Tree of Legend against her, not like he could against any Kirameki alumni (though he was cautious in doing something like that against old schoolmates). "Fair enough. Now I've got something I can call down to Tōkyō about."

"I got my PNSW," Rinrin offered as she pulled out a device similar to the new NAVI system Genom was trialling in different markets to launch the latest revolution in portable communications. The PNSW - the acronym meant "portable notebook server (wireless)" - was being spearheaded by Genom's European rival, Imperoma. Rinrin's own device was a RIM BlackBerry TechnoCurve TC3380, the modern descendant of the first true smartphones. "Want to c'mon over to my room to make a call to Ronnie-chan?"

Both laughed.

* * *

"Who is that man, Chief?"

"Daley Wong," Yū supplied. "AD Police inspector in Megatōkyō, commander of Second Tactical Squad. Best friend and would-be boyfriend to Leon McNichol. He's considered the 'number two pain in the ass' by a lot of people at the Tower; Leon's number one and his old senior Jeena Malso is number three. No doubt, he came here because of the Orca." She sighed. "Kirameki graduate, Class of '22. Good friends with Yoshio and his crew in Nerima. He worked in the Japanese Special Operations Unit as part of First Company for six years before he was hired on by AD Police in Tōkyō."

Stanley Steinmetz nodded in understanding. He always liked dealing with ex-military special forces personnel; you didn't have to teach them many things when it came to stuff like operational security and the like. He already had a couple of people in mind to take bin Bishah's place as chief of operations here on Genaros, not to mention replace himself as chief of security. And while he was tempted to keep Johannes in place as chief of administration for the time being, Yū had stated she wanted a clean sweep of the upper management on the station. "We'll gift-wrap Greg for him to take home to Japan once we've dealt with Ahmed, Sebastian and all of their friends," he stated. "Even if Flint gets eliminated and this thing Mason had created is destroyed once and for all, it should raise a huge stink dirtside about smuggling weapons to the Chinese. Quincy would definitely like that."

"Agreed," Yū stated. "Must never allow his scientists to get lazy."

Stanley chuckled.

* * *

Megatōkyō, Taitō Ward, near Asakusa Park, 4:55 PM . . .

"We've got two WHAT in town?"

"Sexaroids, Leon-chan," Daley replied. "There were five involved. Three got shot down in the launch port as they were getting away. One survivor is hurt."

Leon McNichol shuddered before he shook his head in sad understanding. He was in the private office of his would-be "adopted sister," Veroncia Callista Theresa Nichols, the reborn "phantom woman" Bu-M17 Mark VIII mannequin boomer escort Leon had fought twice in the early part of his career, who become one of the first Guardians in 2027. "Damn!" he spat out. Now some things that had been reported in the Fault were starting to make some gruesome sense. "What the hell happened up there, Daley?"

"Don't know. People on the station are mum over it," Daley replied. "Rinrin-chan doesn't even know everything. But here's what we do know. Starting around the middle of the month, these girls and their three friends started to _openly_ talk about escaping the station. According to the other 33-S's I've overhead since I came here, that was weird behaviour from them. Their overseer here was pretty nice to them and all that. But here's the cute part about it: when they made a break for it, the WHOLE station security force was ready to jump them right then and there. Even worse, the three girls who got shot down here were nailed by the DOBERMANS!"

"The Dobermans . . .?" Leon eeped. The damned things were as bad, if not worse, than a Bu-11D anti-armour combat boomer. "That's OVERKILL!"

"Agreed," his friend replied. "Rinrin-chan also told me that there was some weird USSD black bag project that was on that shuttle, too."

A hum. "Really . . . "

Daley shrugged. "I'm trying to get her to find out more so we can get the whole damned story, but if Yū-chan wants to keep mum about it . . . "

"Gotcha. So what made these girls bolt if their master was okay?"

"Largo."

Silence.

Leon shuddered. "Oh, you're KIDDING me . . .!" he hissed.

"Wish I was, Leon-chan. Wish I was," Daley then replied with a tired shrug. "Somehow, nanites were inserted into these girls' brains that were tied to the very same frequency a 33-S's mind is linked into the Eye of God through."

Hearing that, Leon sighed. "Damn! So these two girls could be under short-range remote control by that malfunctioning lunatic . . .!" he snarled.

"Doubtful."

"What do you mean?"

"The transmitter needed for something like this, according to Rinrin-chan, would have to be a very special piece of kit," Daley explained. "Possibly scratch-built." That was the term often used these days to indicate any sort of high tech that didn't come off a standard factory line. "Genom would NEVER want anyone to make use of that sort of thing on its boomers; that's delving into territory that would unleash a whole can of worms if it ever became widespread. Chances are there that there might be just one such unit and it's somewhere here on Genaros. Rinrin-chan's trying to triangulate where it might have been from the brain of the one girl she could salvage information from; the other two got head-shots from the Dobermans when they were sent for a high dive." That was the moniker used by many in "Tactical Squad Juliet" for passing through Janus. "Once she has it, six of the Killer Angels are going to take care of the creep responsible, plus make sure these things aren't in any of the other boomers up here. It'll be probably cleared up in three to five days."

Leon nodded. "What about the weapons thing you mentioned to me?"

"Might have a suspect. Greg Kaufman - he's the gent in charge here; he was ALSO (Surprise! Surprise!) the overseer of the girls in question - is history by Friday. Stanley Steinmetz is taking his place."

"Who's he?"

"Israeli. Ex-Mossad, ex-Sayeret Duvdevan, vet of the Union War."

"Links to Zion?"

"Possible."

Leon chuckled. "I bet he's popular with all the Genom vets up there."

Daley smirked knowingly as he nodded in return. "Most likely. He's VERY popular with the 33-S's up here; to them, he's their 'nii-san,' just like they call Yū-chan 'sempai' or 'onē-san' in private."

"Getting them prepped for their own high dives, huh?"

"Hai."

"How bad is Nanase swinging the axe?"

"Can't tell now, but I think it's gonna be bloody."

"Tell her to have fun."

"Will do. Talk to you later."

The link was cut. Taking a deep breath, Leon then sat back in his chair before he stared at the sheet of paper he had written two body unit numbers on before he had learned what those numbers had meant from Daley. Two 33-S's, one hurt, now on the loose inside Megatōkyō, most likely augmented with some weird thing from USSD to help the hurt one get healed thanks to blood obtained from unlucky people the unhurt one could find. Tōkyō Metropolitan Police - the "normal" cops - had already started to find bodies in the Fault that had been drained of all the blood inside. If the wound wasn't bad, it would probably take up to a month for the hurt sexaroid to regenerate and be back to normal. So far, four people had been killed, two on Saturday night, two on Sunday night. Two more would be probably dead before the end of tonight.

Standing up, he walked out of the office to enter the main part of the "clinic;" that was Veronica's nickname for the recovery room where newly-arrived bioroids would spend some time as their souls properly adjusted to their new bodies and they learned what had happened to them and why. One of the dozen beds here was occupied at this time. This Janus beneficiary was a young woman. Noting the stunned, shocked look on her face, Leon shuddered. He could never imagine what had happened to people like them. To die, most likely in some sort of violent circumstance. To have all the artificial elements of their minds automatically sheared away and recoded into organic thought processes, then downloaded into flesh-and-blood bodies. The whole process on average took two days from first "death" to second "rebirth."

"Excuse me . . . "

Leon perked, and then he smiled as he walked over to sit beside the occupied bed. The girl there, looking to be in her early twenties - that was the median age of a Janus beneficiary unless it was a special case like Cynthia Miller - appeared now to be African, with nearly black skin and brown eyes peeking out of a very beautiful face framed by curly dark red hair cut to mid-shoulder. Noting the colour of the hair, Leon tried not to smirk. The computers controlling the DNA-coding process when bioroid bodies were templated and prepared, according to Veronica, had weird senses of humour. Or most likely were influenced by the beliefs and thoughts of Saotome Yoshio's partner-in-crime when it came to ensuring all the 33-S's would wake up in Nerima, their bodies pre-prepared back in '28: George Foster.

"Yeah, what's wrong?" Leon asked.

"Are you like me?"

He shook his head. "No, I'm pure-born. Ronnie's my would-be sister."

She nodded. "What do I do?" she asked, a lost look crossing her face. "I . . .!" She squeezed her eyes shut. "How can I live like this . . .?"

"What were you beforehand?" he asked.

She sighed. "A Bu-M17, Mark Four . . . "

A nod. "Earlier version of Ronnie's model. Where did you work?"

"Soukous. Ethnic restaurant and bar in Toshima Ward."

Leon nodded. That had been a case a week before handled by Nanao Seiji's Tactical Squad Three. It had been a lot simpler to handle than dealing with a berserk 55-C or other type of combat model; no one from Seiji's squad had been killed or wounded in that encounter. The restaurant had been badly wrecked, though; the chances were there that it would shut down. "There are other places where you can go work as a waitress," he said. "Down in Shinagawa, there's a place called the Cliffside Inn. It's the main gathering place for all the bioroids in Megatōkyō. Owner's an old Bu-R31 space labour boomer from Genaros named Brian Armstrong. He crossed over back in '28. He had problems adjusting to being human . . . " - Leon tried not to make a face as he remembered the "problems" that man had endured before he crossed over - " . . . but he made it through, then decided to set the place up as a way for people to gather and share experiences so those who need help can get it."

She faintly nodded. "Why did the Creator do this to us . . .?"

A tired sigh. That was the question practically _every_ boomer asked when s/he became a bioroid. "He realised in the end that you were given the ability to think and feel like humans, but you were going to be effectively turned into slaves," Leon explained. "This was his way of saying 'I'm sorry' to all of you for being forced into that. And he was smart enough in the end that he realised he had to turn to a guy like Saotome-hakase to ensure it would come true for you."

A blink. "He's the one . . . Nichols-sempai calls 'papa.'"

A nod. "Yeah, that's him."

She then smiled. "I wish all humans were like him."

Leon nodded again. "So do I."

"Leon?"

He perked before turning to stare into Veronica's blue eyes; she had walked up to stand behind him as he was talking to this woman. "Hey."

"Konnichi wa, Sempai," the girl whispered.

The silver-haired, statuesque ex-escort gazed on her before smiling. "Get some sleep, Ikinya-chan," she then advised. "You need it."

"Hai."

The other woman closed her eyes. Veronica then waved Leon to her office. "What's going on?" she asked as she leaned against the doorframe.

"We've got two 33-S's in town," he replied. "One's hurt. I think the murders in the Fault the N-police are going crazy about might be related."

Veronica winced. "Is this part of what happened on Genaros?"

"Yeah, big part of it. Instigated by a certain prototype boomer."

Her eyes widened. "Oh, Fates . . . "

"I need their pre-crossing over pictures, Ronnie."

"What are their BUNs?"

Leon gave the body unit numbers he got from Daley. "Ten minutes," Veronica said as she turned to head in the office, moving to close the door.

He nodded. "Dōmo."

* * *

Chōshi, 5:15 PM . . .

"Sylvie?"

"Hmm . . .? What is it, Priss?"

The honorifics had been totally dropped between them now.

"Are you mad at me?"

Sylvie blinked, and then she stared into Priss' eyes. "About what?"

The singer flustered. "W-well . . . "

The sexaroid looked ready to panic. "You enjoyed it, didn't you?"

"I . . .!" Priss stammered. "Hai! A lot! But . . .!" She waved to herself, and then to Sylvie. "We just met today! And we just . . .!"

"Made love to each other," the sexaroid coyly finished.

The singer stopped, and she sighed before smiling. "I've always heard people in the West believe you're not supposed to do _it_ on the first date."

"Didn't you enjoy it?"

Priss jolted, and then she nodded. "Of COURSE I did! But . . .!"

A finger landed on her lips to silence her. "Don't complain," Sylvie told her, and then she sighed as she moved to snuggle closer to her lover. "Priss, when I first saw you, I thought you were the most attractive woman I had ever seen. And I was right. You ARE the most attractive woman I've ever seen. And I started thinking right away of what might happen if I got the chance to be intimate to you." She then leaned up to playfully lick Priss' ear, which nearly made the singer's whole body turn to mush. "And believe me, my beautiful siren, you did WAY better than I expected!"

Hearing that from the sexaroid made Priss' body swell with pride. She grabbed Sylvie and drew her in for a breath-taking, tongue-filled, body-to-body kiss and hug. After a moment, both reluctantly pulled apart, a string of drool connecting the tips of their tongues. Seeing that, both blushed before they started to laugh. "Damn, Sylvie! You're one in a million!" Priss then stated.

Sylvie blinked, and then she giggled. "Actually . . . "

"What?"

"I'm one in twenty-one hundred," the raven-haired woman said.

Priss gave her a curious look. "What does _that_ mean?"

Sylvie smirked. "I'll explain it to you one day," she promised, and then she sighed. "I'm sorry, Priss, but right now . . . "

Priss sighed. "Your sister. Right. Forgot all about her."

"Are you free tomorrow?"

The singer tensed, and then she sighed. "Not until after lunch. I got a show to do tonight. They all go to three in the morning, so I tend to sleep in."

Sylvie perked. "Where do you perform?"

"Hot Legs. It's in the east end of Minato."

"I'll find it," Sylvie promised. "I shouldn't be too long with Anri."

Priss perked. "'Apricot village?' Is that your sister's name?"

"Hai," Sylvie said. "I was always told Anri's name is Irish Gaelic. It means 'my king.' It might also have a Hindu meaning, but I've never heard it translated."

The singer shook her head. "Funny name to give to a girl."

"She doesn't mind it."

Both laughed, and then they gazed on each other before leaning in to share another kiss. It lasts, like all the other kisses they had shared today, seemingly for eternity, thus making it hard for them to pull apart, even to catch a breath. "I have to go," Sylvie said, and then she sniffed, her nose twisting. "But first . . . "

Priss nodded. "Yeah, we gotta have a shower. C'mon . . . "

Both quickly slipped on their bathing suits - Priss' was a two-piece strapless bikini that matched the colour of her eyes, Sylvie's a gold monokini held up by straps around her neck (she had just bought it at the beach after they had visited a nearby swimsuit shop) - and then they quickly extracted themselves out of the cluster of rocks they had hidden themselves in when they decided to press things all the way. Without looking too obvious as to where they had been, both made their way to the nearby girls' shower/change room to get washed down and dressed in their normal clothes. As they took side-by-side stalls, they were quick to notice they were the only people present. Seeing that, Sylvie grinned as she moved to lather down; the organic parts of her body (which, as was normal for 33-S's, comprised the vast majority of her body's mass) did sweat and raise an odour when she exerted herself. And she had to admit to herself that she certainly had exerted herself today.

_She's so beautiful . . .!_ she thought, her cheeks reddening.

"You okay, Sylvie?"

Sylvie jolted, and then she flustered as she stared at Priss. "Sorry," she said as she moved to rinse herself. "My mind was wandering."

Priss tried not to blush as she turned to finish washing down. She had caught the raven-haired woman glancing her way as they were lathering themselves. Realising that, Priss shook her head. It was utterly incredible! This shouldn't be possible!

Yet . . .

_I want her . . . _

"Priss . . .?"

_I need her . . . _

"Hey, Priss! You okay . . .?"

_I . . . love her . . . _

"PRISS!"

Priss gasped, and then she stared wide-eyed at Sylvie. "What?"

A worried look was on the sexaroid's face. "Are you okay?"

The singer blinked, and then she leaned over. Sylvie gasped before her lips exploded with sensuous warmth as Priss kissed her, and then she purred with delight as they held each other close. After a minute, Sylvie tensed as her mind quickly locked in on her housekeeping computer's time-sense, and then she pulled away. "Priss, much that I would GLADLY let you do this to me for as long as you want, I do have a sister I've got to worry about," she then playfully warned.

Priss blinked, and then she sighed. "Sorry, Sylvie . . . "

"It's okay! C'mon, let's see if we can beat traffic back to Tōkyō."

The singer took that in, and then she nodded.

_**To be continued . . .**_


	7. Chikage Meets Her Perfect Student

Meguro, near the Fault, 8:20 PM . . .

"Ready?"

"H-hai."

"Okay."

With that, Sylvie allowed her fangs to splay before she leaned over to gently thrust them into Anri's shoulder. Once that was done and the vein was opened, she allowed the blood she had absorbed from the DD to regurgitate up her oesophagus and into her sister's body. Anri gasped as her body was flooded with that tender warmth, and then she relaxed as she allowed her head to rest on Sylvie's shoulder. "Arigatō, Sylvie," she breathed out with a smile as her housekeeping computer reported the new blood was being pumped into the right areas of her body to continue the clotting process in her wounds. Her hands immediately reached out to gently embrace the taller woman around the waist. "Make love to me, Sylvie. I need it now . . . "

Sylvie slowly nodded as she pulled away, and then she moved to slip off her clothes. "If it hurts, I'll stop," she promised before leaning down.

As always, their lovemaking was tender and warm. It had always been that way between Sylvie and Anri, just as it had been between Anri and Megan, Louise, Namiko or - before they died - Yuka, Emi, Kaho, Tina or Kotomi. Due to her youthful looks - Anri had been constructed to appear to be a teenager of about sixteen - many of the organics on Genaros had been reticent on the idea of having sex with her. After the first time she did it with Greg Kaufman, he actually APOLOGISED to her for "destroying her innocence" like that. She hadn't fully understood then, but as she emotionally matured over the years, she came to realise he did see her as someone he shouldn't violate that way. That had made her come to trust and like him all the more.

And now . . .

Now . . .

Wait.

What was wrong . . .?

"Sylvie, stop!" Anri gasped before she cried out as release came.

Sylvie's head popped up from between Anri's legs. "What?"

Anri took a moment to calm down; being wounded meant she didn't have the iron-hard control over her body's functions as she normally possessed. After a moment, she took a deep breath, and then she stared at Sylvie. "What happened to you, Sylvie?"

"What do you mean?"

"Your performance was off. You seemed reluctant this time."

Sylvie blinked. Damn! She HAD been thinking of Priss when she had been seeing to Anri's needs. That wasn't the least bit fair to her, especially now when she was so vulnerable and in such great need. Yet . . .! No, she couldn't lie to Anri.

"I met someone today," she admitted.

Anri blinked. "And?"

Sylvie took a deep breath, and then she shifted herself around to lay down beside Anri before she began to explain. It took nearly an hour - the sun setting in the west as she talked - for her to detail her day's fun at Chōshi with Asagiri Priss. Anri remained silent, though she was wide-eyed at Sylvie's passionate description of the singer and what she was like. Finally, at the end, Sylvie took a deep breath, and then she stared at Anri. "She's the most perfect person I've ever met, Anri," she confessed. "I . . . " She then closed her eyes. "Oh, Anri, is this love . . .?"

Anri nodded. "It sounds like it." She had to admit, she was as inexperienced when it came to THAT as Sylvie. "Does she know what you are?"

An immediate shake of the head. "No, of course not. I can't risk something like that." She then took a deep breath. "Priss hates boomers, but I think that's just an extension of her hatred for Genom. And I can understand that given what she told me about all these 'rampages' that've happened in this town these last few years. Still, I don't think she's ever met one of us . . . "

"Be careful with her, Sylvie," Anri advised.

"Oh, definitely," Sylvie stated, and then she giggled like a cheerleader who just landed a date with a handsome quarterback. "Still, when we were doing it on the beach . . . " She took a deep breath. "It was more than just doing my primary function! It was so much more! She . . . " She closed her eyes. "To me, it felt as if Priss had always NEEDED someone like me to be with her." Another breath before she stared into her sister's eyes, her own eyes tearing with joy. "I realise it now, Anri. It's people like Priss who were the ones we were BUILT to be with! I . . .!"

Anri nodded, a smile crossing her face as she sensed the delight Sylvie felt in having met someone like that. "It does sound like love. I'd like to meet her."

Sylvie gazed at her, and then she giggled. "Not as you are now," she mused before she held out a pinky. "Once you're back to normal function again, we'll see."

Anri hooked her pinky around Sylvie's as they giggled. "Have a date?"

"I'm going over to Hot Legs to see her perform."

"Be careful."

"Definitely."

With that, Sylvie headed into the bathroom to prepare herself.

* * *

The apartment next door, 9:35 PM . . .

"Status report, Ichirō?"

"All's well with the 33-S's, Largo-sama," the Bu-48C stated with a smile. The scrambled communications unit he was using to speak to the omniboomer was hooked to one of the hidden datajacks on the back of his neck. The 48-C - his model, used normally by military forces for special operations and intelligence work, was several programming generations ahead of 33-Cs like D and her late sisters - was a handsome Oriental man appearing to be in his mid-twenties, possessing neatly-cut black hair and brown eyes. To the neighbours, he was "Yamada Ichirō." It was a plain name, but the apartment manager hadn't bothered to question it, especially after a considerable amount of money had been handed over for the two apartments in question two months ago. "Sylvie has left the apartment to go to a place called 'Hot Legs.' She met a woman named Asagiri Priss today when she went to the beach in Chōshi and she wishes to see her perform tonight at that establishment. Anri remains in the apartment."

Silence fell as Largo considered that. "Priss . . .?"

Ichirō tensed. "Is she a threat to you, Largo-sama?"

"No, Ichirō, she is certainly no threat," Largo stated, clearly amused by Ichirō's immediate, passionate desire to serve him in any way possible. That had made 48-Cs quite popular with their many and diverse buyers worldwide. "Just a familiar name. Maintain watch. I will contact you tomorrow."

"Hai, Largo-sama, I understand."

The link was cut. Ichirō relaxed as he turned up the volume of the television he had been watching before he was contacted by the omniboomer.

* * *

"Bože moj! He's BEAUTIFUL!"

"He's yours for the taking, Tanya, if you're interested."

Hearing that, Tanya blinked before she stared at Chikage. Both women were now standing on the roof of the apartment block next door to the one Sylvie and Anri currently resided in. A notice-me-not spell kept both women hidden from possible eavesdroppers. "I am definitely that," the blonde Russian Pole mused as she stared through her macro-binoculars (a present from Hatoyama Rinrin) through the window of Yamada Ichirō's apartment so she could drink in his handsome features. "He's as handsome as Hiroi Junnichiovich himself," she breathed, hoping she wasn't drooling.

"He is that," Chikage mused. Karasuma Hiroi, a native of Nerima, was the primary reason Tanya - not to mention the other girls of the "Hokkaidō Group" - was now a Child Companion. The week of Second Kantō eight years before, Tanya Lipiński - along with Hiroi's other would-be lovers: Haruna Kotone and Kawahara Ayu of Abashiri, Sakuramachi Yūko of Chitose, Shinna Kaoru of Otaru, Sakyō Hayaka of Obihiro, Satonaka Kozue of Sapporo and Aida Megumi of Asahikawa - had come to Tōkyō to visit Hiroi as he was about to graduate from high school, returning a visit he had made to Hokkaidō to attend Sapporo's famous White Illumination Countdown on New Year's Eve. And while he had been devastated to learn what had happened to them that dark day, Hiroi - like Satō Ayano's boyfriend and later fiancé, Shimotakatani Takanori - had diligently kept the faith during the years up to everyone's revival in March of 2030. In the wake of that, he began pursuing a relationship with Kotone in earnest. With Kotone's own graduation from high school this year, they were engaged under the Tree of Legend at the Kirameki Memorial and Kotone was planning to move down to Nerima and live with Hiroi full-time. With no hard feelings, Tanya and the others wished them the best.

But Chikage knew the others were rather lonely . . .

"So what do you intend to do with Anri Tatsugiovna?" Tanya asked.

"Open her eyes to a different world," the magi mused as she drew out a diamond-studded bracelet. "Can you distract Ichirō while I'm doing this?"

"Feh! Like taking candy from a baby," Tanya said with a smirk as she slipped on the bracelet. The diamond meson in the bracelet was designed to help curb a Child Companion's Kawaii-kōka, which could run OUT of control and end up sending a boomer through Janus if one wasn't careful. She wanted to win his heart, not force him immediately into his second life right now without any warning.

"Shall we?"

"Let's go."

* * *

Minutes later . . .

"Just a moment!" The door opened to reveal Yamada Ichirō. "Hai?"

"Dobryj večer, Gospodin Yamada."

He blinked on seeing a blonde, blue-eyed Western girl appearing to be twenty standing there, dressed in a sweater and jeans. Before he could ask what was going on, a fluffy feeling washed over him, overwhelming his senses and temporarily shutting down his housekeeping computer. That feeling soon faded, and then he found himself smiling at the lovely girl who was visiting him. "Dōzo," he said as he waved her in.

"Spasíbo," she said as she walked in, pausing to take a look around the apartment before she stared at him. "Where is your bedroom?"

Ichirō jolted, and then he immediately waved her to the bedroom. Like the living room, it was neat, clearly different than what one might expect of an out-of-town bachelor currently in the process of getting a job (that was what Yamada Ichirō always told whenever some of the nosy organics living around him asked about his occupation). On arriving there, the visitor moved to sit on the bed, patting the mattress to her right. Ichirō immediately sat down, and then found himself being kissed by the beautiful girl. At first surprised that she would do THIS on first meeting, he then felt that fade as he tenderly drew her into his arms and allowed their kiss to deepen. And while, had this been before this moment, he would have been immediately on guard on having an encounter of this nature, right now, he couldn't possibly see what sort of threat this lovely lady could present to him.

After a moment, both pulled apart. "Very strong," she mused as she leaned her head on his shoulder. "Just as I would suspect a 48-C should be."

Of course, if this was a NORMAL situation, Ichirō's combat programming would have come immediately on-line; this woman, a complete stranger, just revealed she knew he was a boomer. But, after feeling the passion in her kiss, he didn't want to react THAT way. In fact, if his behaviour analysis programs were operating - and (after a quick check with his housekeeping computer) he knew they were! - she was attracted to him BECAUSE he was a boomer. Even better, she didn't seem to want to treat him as most organics treated a boomer. That was quite different - a PLEASANT difference! - from what Ichirō had been programmed and told to expect from organics.

"Um . . .?" he began.

"Hmm?"

"Er . . . s-sorry, but . . . I don't know your name!"

"Tat'jána Iósifovna Lipiński. Call me Tanya."

He nodded. "Yoroshiku. Well . . . "

"What is it?"

"If it's sex you're desiring, a 28-C is better programmed."

Tanya laughed. "Da, true!" she stated as she held up a finger. "But in my eyes, a 48-C is more kul'turnyj." Hearing that profound compliment, Ichirō suddenly found himself wishing he could blush. "All 28-Cs think of is sex, sex, sex and more sex. Feh! Boring!" A sigh. "Sadly, there are so few 34-S's available, so I cannot seek out one of them. While I could be intimate with a 33-S, I do see myself as more heterosexual. So . . . " She tapped his breastbone. "That leaves you."

He closed his eyes. "I am honoured, Tanya-sama. Still . . . "

"What?"

"I do have a mission I must perform."

She nodded, her mouth curling into a knowing smile. "Relax, Ichirō. I understand. I won't interfere in that. But I - as well as my friends - are concerned about you, not to mention your current neighbours next door."

He stared at her, his eyes widening. "Are you helping Largo-sama?"

"Nyet," she said with a shake of her head, and then she stared into his eyes. "But despite what you might think, not all organics are anal-retentive when it comes to the sentience and wishes of those such as yourself, Anri and Sylvie." A sigh. "While I do get annoyed at times when I hear of boomers 'going crazy,' I do know that in ALL of those incidents, it was started by organic abuse, negligence or misuse."

Ichirō blinked, and then he smiled. This woman was not just a potential ally in Largo-sama's great cause, she was a REAL ally! Realising that, he moved to draw her close. "Thank you for understanding that, Tanya-sama. I'm glad to have met you."

"Stepán."

He blinked. "Eh?"

Tanya winked at him. "Your current name is plain as names come, továrišč," she warned him. Hearing her call him "comrade" made Ichirō want to blush even more. "So I will give you a new name that you will use only with me. Is that alright with you?"

A nod. "Hai."

"Alright. To me, you will be Stepán Maksímovich Jasiński."

He perked. "What does that name mean?"

Tanya smiled as she reached up to start unbuttoning his shirt. "'Stepán,' in Russian - in English, it's 'Stephen' - is the name of the first Christian martyr; he was stoned to death for predicting the coming of Jesus Christ. 'Maksímovich' means 'son of Maksím.' 'Maksím' is one way of saying 'Maximillian.' 'Jasiński' is a good Polish name, the name of some of my father's relatives in the old country."

He took a moment to consider that, and then a helpless look then crossed his face. "I'm not programmed to speak either language, Tanya-sama."

Tanya giggled as she drew out two datajack soft plugs to hold before his eyes. "Fortunately for you, I have a friend who believes in being prepared," she advised.

Ichirō/Stepán blinked, and then he laughed.

* * *

_Eh? What's that noise?_

Anri stood after relieving herself - once again feeling a sense of relief on seeing no blood in her waste material, which meant her digestive and urinary tracts had not been compromised by her injury - and then she leaned her ear against the wall to listen to the noise from the apartment next door. Quickly recognising the voice of Yamada Ichirō - a free boomer of some type, she and Sylvie had quickly realised when they first moved into this apartment - Anri then perked on hearing a woman's voice as well, tinged with a Russian accent. _Who's that?_ the green-haired girl wondered, and then she perked on hearing Ichirō call her "Tanya-sama." _A friend . . .?_

The laughter continued, and then it turned into more intimate sounds. Quickly comprehending that, Anri instantly felt her cheeks heat before she moved to flush the toilet and get out of the room. By the sounds of it, this Tanya must be either a lover or at least an intimate friend of Ichirō's. No need to eavesdrop further on the matter, the 33-S concluded as she made her way back into the bedroom . . .

"Konban wa, Anri."

Anri gasped in shock on hearing that even voice, and then she spun around to see a contently smiling purple-haired, blue-eyed woman seated by the work desk at one end of the room, legs crossed under her long grey skirt and arms clasped on her lap. She was dressed in a black blazer, grey tartan waistcoat and red tie with a white cross on it atop wearing lace-up boots and having a white, hooded cape over her shoulders, the latter emblazoned with stylised crimson crucifixes at her shoulders. Quickly taking that in, Anri then found herself relaxing slightly. If this was some agent from SDPC here to either kill her or drag her back into space, she was definitely not dressed like one. And Largo had shown her images of people that were often employed by SDPC to go out and retrieve errant sexaroids and return them to slavery in space. This woman clearly didn't fit that sort of profile.

"Ano . . . " Anri began.

"Close the door," the stranger advised. "The wards I've placed in this room can only work best without any breaches in the walls."

Anri nodded as she closed the bathroom door, and then she slowly walked over to sit on the end of her bed, staring in curiosity at her visitor. "Who are you?"

"Dōzo," the other woman said as she offered a meishi.

Anri took it. Hirosaki Chikage, Grand Magi-in-Waiting of the Second Kantō Victims Memorial Association, headquartered in Kōtō Ward in Megatōkyō. "Yoroshiku," Anri said, and then she blinked. "May I ask what you want with me, Hirosaki-sama?"

Chikage smirked. "What's the meaning of the word 'magi,' Anri?"

Anri blinked. "Magi. Second declension form of the Latin term 'magus,' which translates into other languages as either 'magician,' 'sorcerer' or 'wizard.' Can also be seen as the plural version of 'magus' when used in languages like English." She then smirked as she added, "Also was used to describe an ancient priest or priestess of Zoroastrianism, the first archaeologically-known monotheistic faith."

An approving nod. "Very good. How did you learn that?"

Anri paused, and then she relaxed as realisation dawned. Whoever this woman was, she was fully aware of what Anri was. And didn't care at all. In the 33-S's eyes, this beautiful woman was quite trustworthy. "Someone left a datadisk with religious history on it up on Genaros. I found it and read it."

"You like learning things, don't you?"

Hearing that, Anri smiled. "Hai, I do. We all do."

"Good. Now, what did I say when I asked you to close the door?"

Anri blinked. "You said that the wards . . . " Her voice screeched to a halt as her jaw dropped before she gaped at her visitor. "'Wards?' You mean . . .?"

Chikage held up an arm, allowing her wand to slide out from under her sleeve and land in her hand before she leaned over to hand it handle-first to Anri. The latter blinked as she looked at the device, and then she leaned over to take it into her hand. "This is a wand . . . " she gasped, her voice hushed with both awe and disbelief, and then she moved to examine it. "What's it made out of?"

"Originally, yew with thestral hair," Chikage replied. "Given what I endured eight years ago, it's not surprising that I would bond to the physical form of a creature only those who have witnessed the death of loved ones can openly perceive." She closed her eyes. "I modified it two years after I bought it at Ollivander's shop in Diagon Alley. Right now, it's yew mixed with both shavings of basilisk fang and a phoenix feather, all wrapped around an ebony-and-ruby meson core shard."

Anri's jaw dropped. "Diagon Alley? Ollivander's? But . . .!" she sputtered before shaking her head. "That's all fiction, Hirosaki-sama . . .!"

Chikage held out her hand. "_Mea Virga._"

The wand leapt out of Anri's hands to land in the magi's. Seeing that, Anri's jaw dropped to the floor, and then she smiled. "Magic exists . . .!"

"Hai, Anri. That it does."

The 33-S's blue eyes locked on the magi's. "You're a witch . . .!"

"I prefer 'magi' myself, but yes, I could be seen as that."

Anri took that in, and then she sniffed. "Can you help me?"

"In what way?"

"Heal me so I don't have to take in blood anymore?"

Chikage sighed. She should have expected Anri to ask her _that_. "If you and Sylvie were alone, Anri, I would do that in an instant."

Anri stared at her. "But people . . . "

"Are dying," the magi finished for her. "Hai, true. And people will continue to die, Anri. But ultimately, you made a choice up there." She pointed up to indicate Genaros. "And no matter how much you were driven deep in your heart to escape from that place and seek freedom, you still had the choice to back away and remain where you were. Right to the moment you, Sylvie, Megan and Louise stole that police car and made a break for Port Six, where Namiko and the Orca were waiting. And the DD Battlemover, of course." A sigh. "When you made that choice, Anri, events were put into motion that has come to affect many people. And you have to accept the responsibility for what those choices end up unleashing, Anri. As does Sylvie."

"I'm not a murderer!"

Chikage's eyebrow arched. "Did I say that?"

Anri stopped, and then she shuddered. "N-no . . . b-but . . . "

"Anri, did you - ever since you met Maximillian and he made his speech about freedom - ever stop to think about what he was making you do?"

The 33-S stopped, and then she blinked. "Not really . . . "

The magi sat back. "Why not? It was quite risky and you know what could happen to you if you're exposed for what you are anywhere . . . "

"We had to leave!"

"Why?"

Anri's eyes closed. "Because we were doomed to die."

"How did you know that?"

A sniff. "We were scheduled to go to Darkside One in June."

Silence.

"Ah!" Chikage trilled. Despite all that USSD had done to keep what happened on THAT station secret, the news got out. People like Anri were, after all, programmed to be observant. "Normally, six girls are sent to that poison factory every summer," she then stated. "So who was the sixth girl that was scheduled with your group?"

"Sujin. Stanley-niisan's assistant."

"Did you talk to her about this?"

Anri blinked as confusion crossed her face before she shook her head. "N-no. But since he knew she was going, Largo should've told her . . . "

Chikage closed her eyes. "Anri, when girls are selected to go to Darkside One, are they normally taken from the same work team on Genaros?"

" . . . about that . . .!" Anri's voice then screeched to a halt as her eyes went VERY wide on hearing Chikage's question, and then she shuddered as disbelief crossed her face. "You mean . . . " she gasped.

"You were tricked into running away from Genaros, Anri," Chikage flatly announced. "And so was Sylvie. As were Megan, Louise and Namiko."

Silence fell, and then Anri's eyes began to tear. "No . . .!" she breathed out as she covered her mouth, her housekeeping computer trying and failing to keep back her shock, shame and sadness over what she had just been told from overwhelming her, and then she stared at Chikage. "Why . . .?" she pleaded.

"That is a rather long story to explain," Chikage breathed out. "Sadly, I can't stay here long because the chance is there that someone might notice I'm here and wonder what's going on." She stared at Anri. "Like it or not, Anri, you and Sylvie both have plunged into a world a lot more complex than you could possibly begin to imagine. A world that is even more complex than even Maximillian Largo could imagine. And because of some aspects of that, I and those like me who could help you live your life free are grossly hampered from helping you. If you weren't players in a sick saga that - in one sense of the term - actually started eleven years ago at Whiz Laboratories, I would help you right here and now. But I can't. Unfortunately, too many other people are dependent on my IN-action at this time for me to consider doing otherwise." A sigh before a weak smile crossed the magi's face. "It _does_ not mean, however, that I am unsympathetic to your plight, Anri."

Anri stared at her before a sad nod touched her chin. "Like you keeping your magic hidden, right? Just like those stories I once read about Harry Potter. About the whole 'wizarding world' and how they keep things secret from normal people."

"Hai. It is the same. And there are other types of life that have much more stringent levels of secrecy over their lives than even wizards."

Anri blinked, and then she nodded. "I see . . . "

She gaped as she felt hands touch her on the cheeks. Staring into Chikage's eyes, the 33-S felt herself blushing. "You are a fundamentally good person," the magi stated as she touched a couple shiatsu points on the sexaroid's skin. "And you will do what is right. I know you will." She kissed Anri. "I'll be watching you."

"Do you have to make me forget this now?" Anri asked.

Chikage shook her head. "You won't completely forget it, Anri," she assured her. "But it will be sealed away from your conscious mind until I personally come and unlock it." She lightly smiled. "Even Maximillian will not be able to breach those blocks. Nor anyone else in the 'normal' world."

An understanding nod. "I'll see you again, won't I?"

The smile widened. "That you will, Anri. Now, relax . . . "

* * *

Nerima, the Toratotaka complex, 11:05 PM . . .

"So we were being used, right?"

"Exactly."

Megan, Louise and Namiko exchanged looks before shame surged up on their faces. "Damn . . .!" Megan hissed before she walked over the window of their guest room to stare out at the city beyond. Also present with the three recent escapees from Genaros and Chikage were Yuka, Kaho, Emi, Tina and Kotomi. "I never thought . . . "

"We should've talked to Sujin first," Namiko said. "Stanley-niisan would have confirmed it if we were going to Darkside One . . . "

"Why did we forget that threat about Darkside One anyway when we crossed over?" Louise demanded as a helpless look crossed her face. "We should have remembered talking about it to each other when Otō-sama asked!"

"Because it was specifically encoded in the nanites Ahmed bin Bishah inserted into your minds, not into your memories," Chikage then answered. "I neutralised the ones inside Anri's mind with the Kawaii-kōka when I blocked off her memory of meeting me and capped it with a false memory of her sleeping."

"Could you do the same for Sylvie?" Yuka asked.

"That might not be necessary now, Yuka."

"What do you mean?" Tina asked.

"Think of this whole situation as a string of dominos being toppled over, Christina," the magi said as she moved to refill her teacup before walking back to sit in the chair. "Right now, the people on Genaros are moving to not only clear up the mess Ahmed made at Maximillian's instigation, they're also moving to sever all ties between the station and Wayne Flint in Kamakura." She made a flicking motion with her finger. "That will displease Wayne very much and he will no doubt want to move to reassert control. That will be stopped, most likely at the same time Ahmed is eliminated." Another flick of the finger. "The instant he realises that he no longer has a viable agent on Genaros ready to help him in his plan in seizing the OMS, Maximillian will immediately accelerate his own plans to depose Wayne and take over control of the Production Control Centre himself." A smirk. "I suspect Sylvie will get a letter at that time revealing where the datadisk with the information to cure hers and Anri's blood-dependency could be found. Once she has that, it's a trip to Kamakura to obtain same. And if Wayne or Maximillian leave a trap for her, that'll force her to use the DD to defend herself." Yet another flick of the finger. "Sylvie crosses over because of that, Wayne is humiliated before Rosenkreutz-sensei, deposed as leader of GCRC and GPCC and Maximillian takes over as leader of that part of Genom. When that happens, within a short time, he'll move against the OMS." Another flick of the finger. "He is defeated and Anri can then be brought across."

"But what about Largo himself, Chikage-san?" Emi asked.

"What do you mean?"

"What happens when HE crosses over?" the pianist wondered. "His Janus circuit probably formed when he woke up. He's as locked into the system as any of us were."

Chikage smirked, a knowing look crossing her face. "Then the 'saviour of boomerkind' learns quickly that the world he wishes to control is a much larger place than he - as either Mason or Armstrong - could ever have imagined."

"Hopefully, not that many people will be hurt," Yuka lamented.

"That, we will have to wait and see," Chikage said.

* * *

Genaros, Wednesday 30 March, 1:05 AM . . .

"Hey, girls! It's about time you got here!"

"You were sent here as a reception party, Rinrin-chan?"

"Somewhat," Rinrin admitted as the last of the six women, dressed in standard SDPC duty jumpsuits - though not of the same kind as was worn by the station's staff of 33-S's - climbed through the emergency exit hatch that had been temporarily used by one of Toratotaka's Black Dragon multi-environmental, cloak-capable transport craft as a docking port. And, as far as anyone on Genaros itself was aware, nothing had temporarily latched onto this part of the station. "Already got your guest quarters all set up in the general cargo storage area. No one'll know you're here."

"Figures," Maijima Karen muttered before gazing at her partner, Nonomura Misato. "We come up here to do a job and they're sticking us into the cargo bays." She rolled her eyes in exaggerated aggravation. "As usual!"

"Hey, Rinrin-chan! Did we at least get futons?" Masaki Natsuko asked.

"No, you get sleeping bags," Rinrin lamented with a shrug. "Sorry." She then winked as she added, "But at least they're big enough for TWO!"

The Kuromoroboshi laughed. Since the original twenty-four of Toratotaka's "killer angels" had been Bu-S77 companion boomers, they were as often in need of lots of close intimacy as those bioroids who were born from latter models of personal companions such as 33-S's. "Are we being watched?" Sakuragi Mai asked.

"Nope," Rinrin assured her. "Too bad for Bishah that lots of places on the station are suffering all sorts of interesting malfunctions in the security grid. Another unforeseen result of Saturday. It'll probably take a week to clean it all up."

"Gee, that IS too bad!" Sakuma Chiharu said.

With that, all six vanished under a special ki cloak that had been invented decades before by a man named Saotome Genma - who was, much to the delight of everyone in Toratotaka given Genma's infamous history, no relation to Saotome Yoshio - as part of his special Umisen-ken school. Noting that, Rinrin immediately moved to close and secure the hatch before she headed out of this unused space. She paused for a moment to wait for her invisible companions to exit out into the street before closing and locking the door behind her. «Let's go,» she mentally transmitted as she headed down the street towards one of the linear roads. «It's not that far away.»

«Any sign of a threat?» Karen wondered.

«Nothing I can sense,» Chiharu's partner Sugimoto Sakurako answered.

«There are some 33-S's close by, though,» Mai advised.

«Don't mind them,» Rinrin said. «They've been curious about me since I came here with Obaba to find out what's going on. Lucky thing I'm keeping the Effect toned down. I don't want to deal with the fallout of leaving behind a station full of heartbroken sexaroids when I head back to school.»

Laughter echoed in the minds of the seven women as they headed off.

* * *

"What do you mean USSD is now moving off the station?"

"It is true, Ramad," Ahmed bin Bishah stated in Arabic as he stared at the image on his view screen, now being transmitted from the Genom Tower in Teheran. He was currently relaxing in his own private communications suite, which had been hardened by a special team sent by his former superior four years ago when he came to Genaros to work for SDPC. "It started early yesterday morning. Shuttles began to leave Genaros to the Shijo station at Lagrange Five, transporting both personnel and materials, all USSD. When I questioned Kaufman about it, he stated that Nanase had persuaded them to remove all their facilities here and shift them there to ensure there could be no further instances of 'short inventory.'" A derisive snort escaped the man as he added in an angry hiss, "What's worse, that stupid woman even made arrangements with those bitches in Samguk to supply the station defences and weapons!"

The dark eyes of Ramad el Sayid flared before a smouldering look crossed his face. "And why didn't Kaufman, much less Flint, stop this?"

"I don't believe Flint knows, my friend," Ahmed replied. "Certainly Kaufman wouldn't talk to Flint with Nanase looking over his shoulder."

A disgusted snort escaped the older executive. Ramad was a man who had no use or respect for women in such high positions. "What else is happening there?"

Ahmed smirked. "That thing Mason created is carrying on as usual," he said, the tone in his voice clearly indicative of his real feelings for the omniboomer who had "coerced" him into his "cause." "Called me up yesterday and demanded to know why I did not destroy the bodies of the three 33-S's who failed to escape from the station on Saturday. Warned me, in fact, that Nanase's current companion - a girl named Hatoyama Rinrin - might be a threat because her intelligence quotient is quite high and she could potentially discover the truth of what I did to those boomers."

Ramad rolled his eyes. "No doubt, she faked her intelligence tests with a little creative mouth work," he stated with a dismissive wave.

Both men laughed at that crude joke. "None the less, Project Fourteen is a success at this stage of the process," Ahmed declared as he relaxed in his chair. "We now have the proven ability to affect a boomer's thought patterns using the same frequencies the OMS operates on. It needs wider field tests in a much more controlled set of circumstances than this station can provide before it could become a truly viable weapon against Zion's and Imperoma's devices, much less rogues from us."

A nod. The fact that the Overmind Control System had been designed from the start _without_ that type of long-distance program-altering capability had annoyed Ramad and his supporters in Genom - which included one of the Class A shareholders, Annan Sese Kabbah of the Congo - for a very long time. Project Fourteen was something that could subtly affect the flow of thought impulses in the meson that went into the creation of a boomer's AI chip. That would, hopefully, not just redress that glaring deficiency in the OMS, but also give Genom an unbeatable advantage in an all-out CorpWar against the only rivals that built their own inducted sentients, Imperoma Industries of Italy and Zion Enterprises of Palestine. That Zion was managed now by Jews who also controlled the government of the so-called "United States of Israel and Palestine" made it doubly hateful. Ramad couldn't wait for the chance to put such a device into use against Zion's warbots and orroids so he could lead an overwhelming jihad against the Jews and drive them out of Palestine once and for all. "Indeed it is. How soon can you ship the prototype and the design files to Teheran?"

"I've already prepared them for shipment, Ramad. As soon as I can guarantee safe shipment, I will contact you with the expected arrival time."

A nod. "Súkran, my friend. God go with you."

"And with you, my friend."

The link was cut.

* * *

Shiga (20 kilometres northeast of Kyōto), that moment . . .

"Goshujin-sama . . .?"

"Pay it no mind, Eloise."

"Goshujin-sama! That man is using Largo-sama for his own purposes."

"Oui, he is, isn't he?" the tall, statuesque yet tomboyish woman with the long, wavy blonde hair and eyes of pure blue ice mused as she walked away from the communications unit to gaze at the controls linked to the gestation chamber that was now covering the intricately-designed endoskeletal boomer within with life-like pseudo-flesh. Within a day, all construction would be finally complete and the unit would be ready for the final insertion of the soul of the being she dearly loved into a far more stable shell than the experimental unit Yoshiro Andrews and his co-workers had built in secret over the previous summer. "But he will not be of any concern to us in the long run." She then paused as a frown turned her lips. "Though I must confess this idea of actually controlling boomers by remote is worrisome," she then lamented before shaking her head. "Oh, no matter," she breathed out.

"Do you wish me to being investigations as to how to target el Sayid, Goshujin-sama?" the beautiful, green-eyed, red-haired 33-C beside her eagerly asked.

Hearing that, the blonde native of Saint-Étienne, a city in France near Lyon, paused as she considered that quite tempting offer, and then she shook her head. "No, Eloise, it's not necessary," Monique Fillon said with a strange, reddish glint in her eyes. "When I take leave next after Danielle is brought home and healed from her adventures around the world, I'll travel down to Iran and deal with that uncouth barbarian myself." She then shrugged. "And who knows? When I deal with him, I'll learn who his supporters in Genom are, then deal with them myself. Or even better, leave all sorts of clues for Quincy to find so he could have dear Miŭn deal with it." She then grinned as her voice switched to a perfect imitation of Quincy's deep baritone as she said, "Ramad, your employment in this company is now terminated as of this time." She then paused before an insane laugh escaped her.

Staring at her creator, Eloise - in public records, she was Eloise Villepelet - blinked before she sighed, shrugging as she rolled her eyes heavenward.

Organic gallows humour.

Go figure!

_**To be continued . . .**_


	8. Prayers for the Lost

Minato, Hot Legs, 3:10 AM . . .

"Hey!"

"Hey, yourself! When did you get here?"

"I got here about ten o'clock," Sylvie admitted as she toasted Priss with her shot glass of bourbon. She was seated in the upper balcony of the nightclub. "Watched all the sets from here. You sing so passionately."

Priss laughed as she clinked her glass of vodka to her friend's before she drank. "Dōmo. Ever hear a concert live before?" she asked as she sat down.

"No, I'm afraid not. We didn't get bands touring Genaros."

"Shit, that's too bad. So what did you do for fun up there?"

"Not much," Sylvie mused. "We were just too busy to really notice. Believe it or not, Genaros supports not just the Moonbase on the Tranquility Sea, but the Orbital Launcher that sends probes to other planets in the solar system, twenty sub-stations in cislunar orbit - that's between the Moon's orbit line and Earth - and a half-dozen translunar stations, too. Things move in and out of there all the time, pretty much 24/7." She sighed. "At first, I actually thought it was awesome, what we did up there. But after a while . . . " Another sigh. "I guess it just got too boring."

Priss nodded. "You needed a change. Nothing wrong with that."

"I'm glad I did, though."

"So am I."

Sylvie perked on hearing that. "Why?"

"I wouldn't have met you if you didn't."

The sexaroid stared at the singer, and then she smiled. "I'm glad."

They reached over and grasped hands. "How's Anri?" Priss asked.

"Sleeping right now. She wants to meet you, believe it or not."

A laugh. "So I got your sister's seal of approval. That's good."

"But not yet," Sylvie said with an apologetic look.

Priss tensed. "It's not contagious, I hope."

"Oh, no! It's just that she can be a real bug-bear when she's ill."

A nod. "Yeah, I get that point."

"Hey, Priss!"

Priss perked as her band's base player, Satō Rei, walked up. "What's up?"

"What's going on tomorrow night?" Rei - he was the only member of the Replicants who was married - asked. "They don't need us here?"

"No, not tomorrow night." Priss could sense the tone in the man's voice. She had only met Rei's wife a few times, but she had come to realise right away what sort of woman Satō Mimiko truthfully was: dominant, wanting all who associated with her to serve her and (most of all) desiring of wealth and all the things working that being the wife of a musician for an inner-city band couldn't truthfully provide. While Priss had more than enough reasons to miss out of performance nights - especially when some boomer in the city got ornery - Rei's excuses for not being there when Priss and the others in the Replicants, Enoki Takeshi and Terada Norio, WERE there for their fans were getting really thin. She had started the process on trying to trace down a possible replacement. Still, she had to give him one last chance.

"When are you going to stop letting your wife run your life?"

A weak smile. "You don't know what it's like being married."

"You should'a married the right girl, Rei."

"She is the right girl, Priss."

And with that, he was off. Priss shook her head before she sensed Sylvie's hand squeeze hers. "What?" the singer wondered as she stared curiously at her.

"He's torn, Priss. I could sense it in his voice."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, with the way he spoke of his wife, it seems to me that, as far as Rei-san is concerned, he's found the one he wants to spend the rest of his life with," Sylvie mused. "He loves his music. I could see it in his playing; he's no different than you or Norio-san or Takeshi-san. But he's torn between his music and his wife."

Priss smirked. "Yeah, I can understand that. But . . . " She sook her head. "I dunno. I mean, if Mimiko has her way, he'd be teaching at school. It's so fuckin' middle class to me. I'd die in a place like that. But . . . " A sigh. "I dunno." She clicked her tongue before drinking the rest of her vodka. "Let's go."

Sylvie nodded as she swallowed the rest of her bourbon. "Where are we going?" she wondered as she followed Priss to the front door.

Priss paused, and then she smiled. "My place."

Sylvie stared at her, and then she nodded. "Okay."

* * *

Nerima, the Toratotaka complex, 9:05 AM . . .

"Osada sunalei, vigiwetsi agehutsa."

Louise gasped on hearing that greeting in the language she had been expertly taught during her transition time between her old body and her new one, and then she leapt out of bed, turning to stare into her adopted father's eyes before a grin split across her face. "Edoda!" she cried out as she swamped Scott with a hug.

"How are you, child?" Scott asked as he kissed her forehead.

Louise sighed. "Not well, Edoda," she confessed.

"No doubt, it is because of what your 'spirit guide' has done to both Agvhnage Wohali and Itse'iyusdi Tlvdatsi," an ancient woman's voice declared.

Louise's head immediately snapped over to stare at the silver-haired, black-eyed woman in the beautiful robes standing nearby. Gaping in shock, she then grinned. "Elisi!" she called out as she got out of bed and nearly ran her adopted grandmother over with a hug. "When did you get here?" she demanded.

Patricia Kaufman - _Unega Nvda_ (White Moon) - laughed as she held Louise close. "A half-hour ago, Adalonige Kōgai," the new elder of the Ahnitsiskwa said as she guided Louise to sit beside Scott. "We arrived in Minato, went to the Spiral to visit Ryūji, and then Chikage teleported us here. We also met Agigage Tawodi and Agigesdi Sasa; they're down in the cafeteria with Tawodi's mother and Sasa's father."

"I'm glad." "Agigage Tawodi" and "Agigesdi Sasa" were the names the Cherokee elder had chosen for Megan Gibson and Namiko Nishihara. "I just wish Sylvie and Anri were here with us," Louise then lamented as she gazed at the roof.

"They will come, Louise," Scott stated as he added his embrace to his mother's. "But they must face a terrible trial before that, both of them."

"We should be helping them face it, Edoda," Louise warned.

"Even in spirit, you're with them, Louise," Patricia told her, and then she grinned as she nodded towards the door. "Come on! It's time for breakfast. We should be together with your sisters and your friends."

Louise nodded.

* * *

"So I'm 'Red Hawk' and Nam's 'Amethyst Swan,'" Megan stated as everyone relaxed in the cafeteria. "What do Sylvie's and Anri's names mean?"

"Sylvie's name, 'Agvhnage Wohali,' means 'Raven Eagle,'" Scott translated. The Kaufmans, the Nishiharas and the Gibsons, along with Miranda Richter and Jocelyn Mackenzie, relaxed around a table. For Megan, Louise and Namiko, it was their first meal without any restrictions towards "hard" foods due to their bioroid bodies having spent the last five years in cryostorage in the "Barn" in nearby Tachikawa, but they were still taking it easy. Terri Kim and Evelyn Thompson weren't there, but were expected to join them soon. Everyone spoke English, with a translation spell being provided for Nishihara Chisugi by Noëlle Gibson since he wasn't fluent in that language these days. "Anri's name, 'Itse'iyusdi Tlvdatsi,' means 'Green Cougar.'"

"Funny name for Anri," Megan mused.

"Megan!" Noëlle gently scolded.

"It's alright for Megan to question it, Noëlle," Patricia advised her friend with a smile. The Cherokee elder and the English witch knew each other quite well thanks to their meetings in the International Conference of Magical Communities, the former part of the delegation representing native American magicals and the latter helping represent European wand-wizards, the constituency of the old International Confederation of Wizards. "Megan, the reason why I chose that name for Anri is that while she now is innocent in many things, when she finally embraces what Chikage will teach her, she will discover a strength she never would have believed she had within her heart and soul. The strength and courage of a cougar. One who, if necessary, could stand alone if she ultimately had to. She will discover that strength very soon, as will Sylvie. That is when they will fully return to your side."

"Our name for Chikage is 'Agigesdi Tlvdatsi,'" Scott added.

"'Amethyst Cougar,'" Namiko translated.

Both Cherokee elders nodded. "Why that, sir?" Miranda asked.

"You don't know about Anri's teacher, don't you?" Patricia mused.

Miranda shrugged. "All we know is the general stuff, Elder White Moon. She's a Child Companion, half-sister to eleven other Child Companions, is also related through her father to a man who actually bought twelve 33-S's and kept them clear of the recall in the long term, is a fully-trained sorceress and that she lives at the Spiral, guarding Megatōkyō from supernatural threats."

"And that is a very good description of her, Miranda," Noëlle stated with an approving nod as she gazed on the younger woman. "But it is what Chikage did in the first _day_ of her new life after she was freed of Negi Springfield's spell that forever locked her destiny to things beyond even OUR wildest imagination."

"She's a graduate of Hogwarts, believe it or not," Scott added.

Jaws dropped. "When?" Jocelyn demanded.

"Technically, 1998," Noëlle answered. "In a different dimension."

Everyone looked at her. "A parallel universe?" Louise asked.

"Yes," Noëlle replied with a nod. "Ryūji felt it was only right that before Chikage could become his heir as Grand Magi of the Spiral, she had to have as wide a knowledge base when it comes to magic as possible. So, he had Yoshio create an eleven year-old body for Chikage, and then used the power of the Spiral to help Chikage travel to another universe so she could attend Hogwarts at the time Harry Potter was a student." She giggled. "I've seen the pensieve memory she made of her arrival at the Garden of the Galaxy in Somerset, right on Harry's eleventh birthday!"

"What happened?" Namiko demanded.

Noëlle smiled. "Like in our universe, many of the magical beings of that universe traded directly with the natives of Nerio, Mars' magical sister-planet; most people here on Earth call it the _Mundus Magicus_ or 'Magical World.' On that day, a delegation from Gringotts in Diagon Alley was meeting with representatives of the Gom Tribe at the Garden of the Galaxy." Noting the confused looks on all of the former 33-S's faces, she added, "It's a special magical interdimensional gateway that Ryūji constructed for that world back in the summer of 1938 - in their timeline - as a way of thanking them for allowing him to attend Hogwarts. When the Spiral keyed into the Garden, it caused quite the magical backlash, especially in the Ministry of Magic." She then sipped her tea. "And just like Ryūji did when he teleported straight into the Great Hall of that Hogwarts back in 1932, when Chikage finally appeared and was recognised as the 'Traveller's granddaughter' by everyone who was there, she introduced herself as 'A humble traveller, seeking knowledge.'"

"Whoa!" Megan breathed out.

"What house was Elder Ryūji sorted into when he was there?" Jocelyn asked.

"He was a Ravenclaw."

"Why the difference in houses?" Louise wondered.

"Chikage's thirst for knowledge would have made her a perfect Ravenclaw, just like it did her grandfather," Noëlle stated. "But atop that, she could and DID fight with the best of the Gryffindors, proving it in all seven years she attended that Hogwarts. And her cunning would have certainly done her well in Slytherin despite her 'half-blood' status making some of the people there uncomfortable when they finally found out about it. But it was her overwhelming love and loyalty for her half-brother and all her half-sisters and her willingness to work as much as she could for as long as it was necessary to learn it all that made her the perfect Hufflepuff."

"So if she went to school with Harry Potter and his friends, how did it affect everything in that universe, Mum?" Megan asked. She had, the previous day, scanned all the LoopNet articles on the Harry Potter native to _this_ universe. The thing that stunned her the most was how his being raised on the planet Sagussa under the guidance of his mother and one of the Daishi'cha had changed Harry's life and prepared him for his confrontations with Voldemort between 1992 and 1998. Not to mention the alien wizards, witches, magi, and other magical beings that Harry had been forced to deal with both before and during his schooling in Britain's most famous magical school.

"Not too differently from the stories you read," Noëlle replied. "Fortunately, like in our history, many more people survived over the years than what was written in those books. Chikage helped there since, as an outsider in many ways (not to mention the fact that she was emotionally and spiritually much older than her peers), she could think of things others couldn't. And while she didn't have the battery of technology our Harry had when he returned from Sagussa in 1991 to attend Hogwarts, Chikage also taught herself how to manipulate meson. That allowed her to augment her wand after she helped Harry deal with the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets."

"Where did she stay during the summers?" Jocelyn asked.

"With Harry; he was living at the time in Somerset," Noëlle answered.

All the 33-S's gaped. "Not with the Dursleys?" Megan demanded.

"Fortunately not," Scott answered. "Though it turns out that in that universe, Harry's uncle and aunt were subjected to a series of curses and hexes by Harry's father on their wedding day to make them afraid of magic." He shook his head. "He obviously didn't come to realise what might have happened if he was killed and Albus was forced to relocate Harry with his living relatives." A sip of the tea. "Like our universe, the Lily Potter of that universe was pregnant with a daughter when Riddle attacked them on Hallowe'en evening in 1981. She was saved by one of Ryūji's old classmates, Glaston Tore, who sacrificed his life and magic in a special one-time self-sacrifice spell called the _Desidero Infantis_ - the 'Lost Child' spell - and then was transported to Glaston's home in Somerset so she could give birth to Rose in peace. Sadly, Lily died when Rose was born; she was raised by Glaston's house elves before she and Harry were reunited, and then they were joined by Remus Lupin."

"That's right!" Namiko then stated. "The Lily Potter of our universe was also pregnant with Rose at the time of Voldemort's attack." She then gazed apologetically at Noëlle when she shuddered on hearing the battle name of one Tom Riddle. "Both of them were saved by a Sagussan intelligence agent who transported them back to Sagussa and got their bodies regenerated to eliminate the effects of the Killing Curse."

"Hey!"

People turned as Terri Kim and Evelyn Thompson came up to join them. "Onē-san!" Louise called out as the sergeant took her seat.

Evelyn walked over to gently embrace Patricia. "All of the Niitsítapi join the Ahniyvwiya in mourning the final passing of your aunt into the Spirit World, grandmother of my sister," she declared. "May she watch over you always."

"Your words are forever comforting, sister of my granddaughter," Patricia then returned as she gazed fondly at the would-be Blackfoot shaman. "As much as you are one of the Niitsítapi, you are also one of the Ahniyvwiya and the Ahnitsiskwa."

Evelyn bowed her eyes. "You honour me."

A shake of the head. "No, it is you who honours me, Grey Storm. As have all your sisters who have gladly and willingly accepted the ways of the peoples of this world," Patricia replied as she smiled at Louise's sister.

They shared another hug, and then Evelyn sat beside her girlfriend. "So where have you guys been all this time?" Namiko asked.

"Going on a walk around town," Terri replied. "Visited a friend of mine, Mary Watson. Not to mention checked a couple of the places Sylvie visited with the DD."

Jocelyn jolted. "Mary's HERE?"

"She's been here for the last several years, Joyce."

"Jeff misses her, Terri," Jocelyn said as a sad look crossed her face. "And so does Baba. Why doesn't she try to keep in contact with them?"

Terri lightly smiled. "Seeing either of you would remind her too much of Deanna, Joyce." She then shook her head. "It's not that she doesn't hate either Jeff or Grandmother Natasha. But the day it all happened, she hoped that she could have gone back with Deanna to Welland and announced plans for them to marry and start their own family. She came home with a dead body instead of her fiancée. And even if Jeff, Aunt Brenda and Grandmother Natasha understood, the pain - and the shame - burned deep in Mary's heart. Especially when she couldn't answer one simple question."

"'Why?'" Evelyn added.

"Don't worry about it, Jocelyn."

Eyes locked on Scott. "Why do you say that, sir?" Jocelyn asked.

"The truth about what befell them will be answered one day," Scott promised. "And yes, Terri, that also concerns Marlene as well as Deanna and the others."

Terri blinked, and then she stared at the Cherokee elder before she nodded. "If that happens, I'll be happy." She gently squeezed Evelyn's hand, making her turn to gaze into the sergeant's blue eyes. "My oath to you remains no matter what, Eve."

"I know."

They kissed. "Can I still see her?" Jocelyn asked.

Terri stared at her, and then she nodded. "I'll talk to her."

* * *

Megatōkyō, Ōta Ward, Priss' trailer/home, 11:45 AM . . .

"Priss?"

"Hmmfh . . .?"

"Wake up, Priss."

"Wanna sleep . . . "

"I made some coffee."

An eye snapped open. "Coffee?"

A pair of lips puckered up and exhaled, allowing the delightful smell to drift into the singer's nose. They flared at that welcome scent, and then both eyes opened, a happy grin crossing her face. "Oh, please . . . " she moaned as she reached out.

"Uh-uh!" Sylvie said as she pulled it away. "Get up."

A groan escaped the singer as her hand flopped. "Sylvie . . .!"

"Priss," the sexaroid scolded.

"Sylvie, in the name of the gods, please! Have a heart . . .!"

Sylvie smiled. "You said you wanted to be up before noon."

Priss stopped. "Right," she grunted. "Forgot. Sorry about that."

"It's alright. Now get up!"

With a tired sigh, the singer slipped the covers away from her nude body and she rose. Then, as Sylvie watched with a grin, Priss raised her arms like a sleepwalker and marched over to gently embrace the nude sexaroid before she took the cup and took a sip before diving in to kiss Sylvie. Both held each other close as their tongues continued to play with each other, and then they reluctantly parted before Priss moved to finish drinking her coffee. "Dōmo," she said.

"Anytime," Sylvie mused.

With that, both sat in the area of the trailer where Priss had made something of a living room. Looking around, the singer was quick to notice that it was now a little cleaner; no doubt, when she gave Sylvie permission to sample her CD collection, the raven-haired woman decided to repay her kindness by helping straighten things up. Even the headphones had been unplugged from the CD player and neatly wrapped up and placed on the shelf. _Damn! She'd be the perfect wife for someone someday!_ Priss mused as Sylvie sat beside her, leaning over to relax against the singer. Without hesitation, she reached over to gently wrap an arm around the sexaroid, leaning her head against the top of Sylvie's head as she closed her eyes. "Is this some dream?"

Sylvie smiled as she closed her eyes. "No, I don't think so," she said as she wrapped one arm around Priss' back. "I'm sure I'm not dreaming."

"Where've you been all my life, Sylvie?"

A sigh. "In a world far different than yours." Sylvie turned her head up to gaze into Priss' eyes, smiling sadly. "Hearing what you've lived through, what you've experienced . . . " She closed her eyes. "I feel like some stupid country hick compared to that. I . . . " She shook her head. "I want to really LIVE, Priss. I want to see the world as you see it. I want to understand things that people like you - like YOU! - take so easily for granted. I want to understand it all."

"It'll take a long time," Priss admitted, her heart churning as she felt the plea in her friend/lover's voice, and then she kissed Sylvie's forehead. "Sylvie?"

"Hai?"

"You know, yesterday and today seem like some crazy dream to me. I . . . " Priss paused, and then she sighed. "Sylvie, do you want a . . .?"

Sylvie tensed. "Don't you want to be my friend?" she gasped.

The singer jolted, and then she laughed. "Of COURSE we're friends, Sylvie!" she assured her as she placed the cup down on the table, and then she moved to draw the sexaroid close to her. "And we will ALWAYS be friends! Never doubt that for a minute, okay? But . . . " She took a deep breath. "Sylvie, many people would say that we're also in a relationship now. Or at the very least, we're now 'friends with benefits.' And believe me, Sylvie, the sex between us is so mind-blowing AWESOME, I don't want it to fuckin' stop!" Another breath. "But . . . I think if we're going to start something long-lasting, we need to do more than just make love to each other."

Sylvie blinked, and then she shuddered as her eyes teared. "Oh, Priss!" she cried as she nearly broke the poor woman in half with her hug.

Priss yelped as those arms nearly shattered her ribs. "HEY!" she screamed. "Sylvie . . . " she gasped. "Please . . . need to breathe . . . "

Sylvie yelped, which nearly made Priss drop to the floor. "Ohmigosh!" she cried out. "I'm sorry, Priss! Are you alright?"

The singer's hand came up to wave the panicking sexaroid down. "I'm okay!" she wheezed. "I'm okay! Just needed to breathe! Fuck! How strong are you, anyway?"

Sylvie sighed. "Sorry about that," she apologised as her cheeks reddened. In her heart, she was cursing herself for losing control over her body like that. "It's what I got for working on the docks on Genaros for so long," she smoothly lied as she helped Priss back to the couch. "Sometimes, I don't realise how strong I really am."

"Oh, man," the singer moaned as she allowed herself to relax. "It's okay," she assured her. "I've survived bike crashes and fights that hurt worse than your hugs."

Both women laughed, and then Sylvie hummed. "Well, tonight . . . "

Priss gave her a wary look. "Yeah?"

"I'm going to have to kiss it all better."

They stared at each other, and then they laughed. "C'mon, Sylvie!" Priss then bade her. "Let's get dressed and I'll show you around this town."

"Okay!"

* * *

The Spiral, that moment . . .

"The bond between them is growing quite strong."

"That it is, old friend. That it is."

Hirosaki Ryūji blinked, and then he stared knowingly at Wilhelm Terreblanche. Both were in the Grand Magi's living room. "You realise that when Sylvie finally crosses over, Saki will be there," the former warned.

The elderly San shaman from Johannesburg nodded. "I know, old friend." He closed his eyes before turning to stare at his host. "It will be Saki herself that will make Sylvie cross over," he said in a quiet voice.

Ryūji took that in. "Wilhelm, with the way that people who know of what happened to Saki's friend in 2022 continue to dance around her ignorance of what her father gifted to Yoshio before he was murdered by Mason, the chances are there that when Sylvie crosses over, she and Saki will be separated for good!" he protested.

Wilhelm lightly smiled. "Not forever, old friend. Not forever."

Ryūji's eyebrow arched. "What are you Seeing?"

"I'm Seeing a much different future for Saki, Ryūji. One that I don't think either you or Chikage can See at this time." Wilhelm held up a finger. "But that will change. Be assured of that." His smile turned into a mirthless smirk. "And this is a future I DEFINITELY know Devon will not foresee for his granddaughter." He indicated the image of the singer, who was currently getting dressed and preparing to head out with her companion on a long ride around town to take in all the sights. "You know that ever since she left the orphanage where she was placed in after Akita died and Lenore became what she is now, she has called herself 'Priscilla.'"

"Yes. What about that?"

"Why does she do that?"

A shrug. "She sees her life as 'Asagiri Saki' as having ended when her father died and her mother became a Guardian. 'Asagiri Priscilla' is what she is now."

"And what does Devon think of that?"

Ryūji snorted. He had only encountered Okami Devon two dozen times in the last eight years, usually at lavish government levées when he, as the leader of a major non-governmental organisation - one possessing the blessings of the Chrysanthemum Throne - which was dedicated to protecting the welfare of Megatōkyō's less fortunate, was invited to attend. Each time, he had been very tempted to grab the last of Genom's "genrō" living in Japan, drag him somewhere private, then give him a brutal dressing down about many things. The biggest one, of course, was the appalling way he had treated his own granddaughter since Second Kantō. Instead of doing the right and responsible thing in 2025 by taking the child off the streets and allowing her to live a life of safety and emotional stability, he literally ABANDONED her to the Fates out of some petty need for revenge against her mother for their estrangement fifteen years before her "death." And even if Devon did support Priss from the shadows, ensuring he could be there if she truthfully needed him, even a blind man could see how his letting her live the life she lived hurt her in so many ways. And when he died . . .

Ryūji snorted. "To that stupid boy, she is Saki, not Priscilla." He nodded in the direction of where Devon lived in Toshima. "She will always be Saki to him. If the chance ever comes that they meet before he dies, he'll treat her that way."

"And that will be another reason for her to hate him," Wilhelm finished as he closed his eyes. "I worked with him often before I woke up to the real world, Ryūji. So I can forgive him some of his many faults. And I am sympathetic to his feelings. And I also know that if he ever learns the truth about what happened to Lenore eight years ago, it would destroy him." A nod towards Nerima. "Try as young Megumi has to let him learn of the real world, old friend, he has always shied away from that knowledge. It frightens him." A laugh. "Imagine that? He, one of the most powerful men on the planet, AFRAID of the truth about how life exists, in ALL its majesty, on this planet!" He pointed to Genom Tower. "Quincy there accepts it! Hildegarde accepts it! So do Janice and Konstantine! Why not Devon?"

A dismissive wave of a hand. "He can't control that power, Wilhelm. In that way, he's no different whatsoever than that pathetic pig Kabbah!" A shrug. "So he pretends it doesn't exist. It's easier for him."

Wilhelm's eyes opened. "He won't be able to do that for long."

Silence.

"What do you mean?" Ryūji said as he stared at his guest.

Wilhelm's eyes closed. "One - perhaps two! - of the Black Children of the Protector's Gift is coming to this city, Ryūji," he said in a hollow voice. "And when it comes, Saki will either die . . . or be forced to become exactly like Sylvie will."

The Grand Magi's face began to pale. "The Talismans . . .?"

The San shaman nodded as he stared at his host. "Aye. And when it comes, its destiny and Saki's will be bound together in a grip no power, not even the Ancient Traveller, can break. And when that happens, Ryūji, Saki will be truly dead. And only Priscilla will stand in her place." He turned to stare at the city. "I care for Devon enough to know that when he learns of what will happen to Saki - No! What will happen to PRISCILLA! - that his whole worldview will be brought down like the Mother Earth herself brought this city down eight years ago." A tired sigh. "If he can make himself accept it, he can make his peace with Priscilla. And with Lenore. And that is what I want for him before it comes his time to make the Final Crossing."

Ryūji stared at him, and then he nodded in understanding.

* * *

Ōta Ward, on the shores of Tōkyō Bay near the site of Haneda Airport, 12:40 PM . . .

"What is this place, Priss?"

"It used to be called 'Aqua City,'" Priss explained as she and Sylvie stood on the bayshore road gazing out into the water. Their bikes were parked nearby as they stood close to the shattered bridge that once led onto the reclaimed grounds destroyed eight months ago. Little of the central island of the site was still above water. "It was a planned industrial park that fell by the wayside over the last few years. People tried to start it up again a year ago or so, but it never went anywhere."

"What happened to this place?" Sylvie wondered.

"Particle laser strike from one of USSD's 'guns-in-the-sky,'" the singer answered, a touch of sadness in her voice as she pointed up to the clear sky overhead. "The first 'night of fire,' the idiots in the press called it."

The sexaroid was quick to detect the tone in her friend's voice. "Did someone die here?" she asked, her voice respectfully hushed.

Priss jolted on hearing that question, and then she blinked before she nodded. "Yeah." She took a deep breath. "Her name was Cynthia."

"Tell me about her."

The recounting of the previous July's events took a few minutes. As she talked, Sylvie was quick to sense Priss was editing a few details. But the underlying pain - which clearly was shocking to the singer - was real. At the end, Sylvie took a moment to consider what she heard and compare it to what she had seen on Genaros, and then she sighed. "Cynthia was a 77-S," she said in a whisper, her eyes tearing.

Priss perked. "'Seven-seven-Es?'"

"The official model number of the Killer Dolls, Priss: BuSP-77S."

"What's the 'SP' stand for?"

"Space Development Public Corporation."

Priss gaped. "Your old bosses build their own boomers?"

"Supposedly in secret, though I really doubt it was secret from some parts of Genom," Sylvie replied, her arms moving to hug herself as she looked into the water. "Mostly - and this is just rumour - the units SDPC build are meant for use by USSD. Don't know where, but I remember seeing several boomers built to look like VERY young children in transit through Genaros a couple years ago. What did Cynthia look like?"

"Blonde, blue-eyed kid from Germany. About six or so."

Sylvie blinked, and then she nodded. "I saw her."

Priss' jaw dropped. "On Genaros?"

"Hai. I guess she was built in space, probably to keep her existence a secret. But it was never a secret on Genaros." Sylvie blinked as she recalled something else. "One time, I saw her and a whole bunch of other girls, all of different races and types, heading out one of the exit ports for the shuttles to Earth. The one I think was Cynthia was with a man in the uniform of a USSD commander . . . "

"Balding, beard and moustache? Sorta fat?"

A nod. "Hai, that was him."

"Sounds like Hermann Schwartz, Sylvie. Said he was Cynthia's 'father.' He was the boss of USSD in Japan until last August. Was made to resign because Genom was playing around with the black box that got put into Cynthia's head." She sighed. "Never figured out how they got it, though . . . "

"Wish I could tell you all the details about them," Sylvie said, and then she sighed. "Well, when I saw her, Cynthia looked happy. But some of the others . . . "

She shuddered. Priss was quick to notice the flash of horror crossing Sylvie's face. "What's wrong?" she gasped as she moved to comfort her.

Sylvie gulped as she called on her housekeeping computer to try to calm her down. "Yuka told me this," she whispered. "She was walking around the station one night . . . and she heard a girl crying out. And when she traced down where it was coming from, she . . . " Another shudder raced through her. "She saw . . . one of those girls . . . and there was this man . . .!"

Priss blinked, and then her skin started to pale. "Oh, fuck . . .!"

Sylvie sniffed. "He was . . . raping her, Priss . . .!"

Hearing that, the singer shuddered before her stomach lurched. Bolting away from her companion, she made it to the guard rail in time before the small bit of breakfast and the coffee she had nearly an hour before came back up. Hearing her vomit into the bay, Sylvie immediately headed over to comfort Priss as she went through a series of dry heaves before she took several breaths and moved to calm down. "Oh, fuck . . .!" the singer gasped out as she found herself being slowly embraced by the sexaroid. "Oh, fuck! PLEASE tell me that was some sick joke, Sylvie . . . "

Sylvie shook her head. "No joke. Believe me, Yuka understood what being raped could do to anyone." She closed her eyes. "Yuka had nightmares about that for a week after she saw it happen. We didn't dare say anything, not even to our superiors. And . . . after Yuka died, I never had cause to think about it again until now."

"Could Cynthia have been raped . . .?"

Sylvie shrugged. "I wish I could answer that, Priss."

The singer took that in, and then she sighed. "Let's go."

The sexaroid perked. "Where are we going?"

"I'll show you."

* * *

Mitaka (west of Megatōkyō), that moment . . .

"AH-CHOO!"

Hearing that sneeze, the brown-eyed woman with the dark chestnut hair combed over her left eye tensed, and then she looked over her shoulder at her adopted daughter. "Bless you, Thia!" Hannah Flannery Miller called out as she walked over from the kitchenette to kneel beside her. "Are you okay?"

Moaning, the blue-eyed, blonde girl sniffed back some of the loose mucus in her nose, and then she drew some tissue to blow her nose. "It just came out of nowhere, Kā-chan!" Cynthia Medea Miller moaned through the tissue before she stared to exhale.

Hearing that, Hannah hummed as she reached into her vest pocket to draw a portable scanner similar to a tricorder from _Star Trek - The Next Generation_. After a quick pass around the living room with the device, the boomer black ops agent-turned-bioroid security officer for Ogasawara Investment Enterprises hummed as she looked at the readout. "No contaminants in the air," she said as she slipped the scanner back into her jacket. She then paused before a smirk crossed her face as she reached over to draw her adopted daughter into her lap. "Hey, Thia," she cooed.

"What is it, Kā-chan?" the Killer Doll-turned-bioroid elementary school student wondered as she gazed up into Hannah's eyes.

"I think you're becoming more human."

A confused blink. "What do you mean?"

"Someone must be talking about you."

Cynthia hummed before she leaned back against Hannah. "I wonder if it was Onē-san," she mused as she allowed her adopted mother to hold her.

Hannah sighed. "Doubtful."

* * *

Ōta, 1:05 PM . . .

"Like this?"

"Yeah."

Sylvie nodded before she flicked the lighter on and applied the flame to the end of the bundle of incense that Priss had purchased - along with a bottle of ramune - from a nearby convenience store. The singer had also obtained a bouquet of lilies from a flower shop. All three items were now on the asphalt surface of the bridge that once led into Aqua City. The singer and the sexaroid were kneeling on the roadway, both of them facing out into the bay. Staring at Priss as she began to pray, Sylvie then nodded as she straightened herself, and then she closed her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Cynthia," Priss whispered as she opened her eyes, allowing tears to flow down her cheeks as her mind's eye replayed the events of that ugly night the previous July. "Never really had cause to come down here to give anything to you after you died, especially with my life. After all . . . " - a touch of bitterness entered her voice - " . . . when we found out what you were, it became simple to me. You were a boomer. Once you brought the satellite blast down on you and the bastard that was hurting you, you were no more. No one would miss you at all. 'Xcept . . . "

She sniffed. "'Xcept for more than a week after you died, I couldn't get your scream for help out of my head and out of my dreams," she admitted. "How much that, no matter what I knew about you told me, you were just a kid caught up in something you couldn't understand. I . . . " Priss bowed her head in shame. "I tried to forget those dreams afterward, Cynthia, but they still bothered me. And now, thanks to my friend, I realise why." The singer's teeth ached as she gnashed them together before she jolted on feeing Sylvie's hand on her shoulder, and then she smiled in thanks at the sexaroid before turning and staring out once more onto the bay.

"You were never programmed to realise you were nothing more than a kid," Priss said. "You never realised you were a special 'weapon' to be used by those creeps in USSD when they needed a good blast from the heavens. You never knew you would never age. Never grow up. Never do things normal kids do. You were just a _thing_ to them . . . " She closed her eyes. "And now I wonder what could've happened if we actually DID rescue you from Frederick and his creeps. Would . . .?" She took a breath before opening her eyes. "Would you have been hurt like Sylvie's friend Yuka saw one of your sisters hurt up on Genaros? Were you hurt by those creeps who created you, Cynthia?"

Another sniff as Priss wiped her eyes. "And maybe it was for the best," the singer then whispered. "You're free of all the pain that those of us still stuck in this life have to face day-in and day-out. You're free of the creeps who would hurt you and abuse you and _rape_ you. And maybe, if this was a better world, you could've lived a better life . . . and maybe, if the chance ever came, I could've helped you live that life, Cynthia-chan." She took a breath. "You'll always be in my thoughts."

She lowered her head as she fell silent. Sylvie looked at her, a smile crossing her face, and then she pulled her hand away as she turned to stare out on the bay. "You won't know of me, Cynthia-san," the sexaroid said as she held her hands up in prayer. "But I knew about those like you. All my friends did on Genaros. My best friend Yuka saw what happened to one of your sisters. I hope that wherever she is now, your sister isn't suffering. That she's either alive with a kind master . . . " She then turned her head to the sky above. "Or with you now in the next life.

"And like Priss said, you'll always be in my thoughts."

Priss nodded. "Amen."

"Amen," Sylvie echoed her.

With that, both stood, turning to head back to their motorcycles. Sylvie paused, and then she looked back at the offering Priss had left. "Um, Priss . . .?"

"Yeah?"

"Do we just leave that there?"

Priss smirked. "Don't worry about it, Sylvie," she said as she waved the sexaroid with her. "Most folks here understand what that means."

Sylvie took that in, and then she nodded. Soon enough, both women had mounted their machines and headed off towards downtown Megatōkyō. A minute later - unseen by anyone - a space-warp appeared close to the offerings Priss and her new friend had left behind. Ignoring the incense, the woman who had just teleported in from Kōtō picked up the flowers and the ramune bottle before vanishing . . .

_**To be continued . . .**_


	9. The Death Chix

Meguro, Sylvie's and Anri's apartment, 1:20 PM . . .

"So there are some boomers Priss-san does like."

"Only one so far."

Hearing that from her guest, Anri nodded. She had once again been surprised to find Hirosaki Chikage in hers and Sylvie's apartment. Of course, once the block on her memories of the previous evening's visit by the magi were lifted, surprise had turned into delight. And while she WAS tempted to ask again for Chikage's help in healing her, Anri had held her tongue. She remembered how passionate Chikage had sounded yesterday when she had warned her about the restrictions the magi currently faced in this situation. Clearly, Chikage wasn't the type of person who liked having her time wasted by such useless questions. "Who is that person?" Anri then asked.

"Cynthia Schwartz," Chikage reported, using the young girl's pre-crossing over name to ensure security was maintained. "A BuSP-77S in female format."

Hearing that code, Anri's eyes went wide, and then she shuddered. "She was built to look like a very young girl, wasn't she?"

The magi's eyebrow arched. "You know of them."

"Hai. They were built somewhere in space by SDPC for USSD. I don't know where, though. They came through Genaros back in late 2031. Seventy-five of them as I recall." She shuddered as she hugged herself. "They were all so beautiful."

"What's wrong?"

Anri blinked, and then she stared at the magi before she closed her eyes. "I overheard Yuka - she was a close friend of Sylvie's - telling Sylvie about she seeing one of those girls being raped by one of their escorts the night before they were finally taken off the station," she flatly said.

Chikage's mouth formed into an "O" as she took in that information, and then she found herself smiling. "Indeed? Anri, wait right here."

Standing, she waved her cape and vanished. Anri watched her, blinking in surprise on seeing her new friend leave without taking the necessary precautions. Before she could think of anything more, the magi reappeared, and then headed to the desk, carrying a circular device the size of a bowling ball, covered with a cloth. Placing the device down - it landed with a hard _thud!_ - Chikage then unveiled it to reveal something shaped like an earthen bowl, covered in curious runes. Seeing that, Anri then gaped as she stood up to approach it. "Is that a pensieve?" she gasped.

"That it is," Chikage stated. "Made it my third summer at Hogwarts."

Anri blinked as her mind tried to absorb all that, and then she turned to stare in disbelief at the magi. "You went to _Hogwarts_?" she eeped.

"Anri, I told you yesterday where I got my wand."

The 33-S blinked, and then she giggled. "Sorry!"

"No problem. Anyhow, I'll need you to think back to the day you saw those girls, Anri. I'll extract the memories and place them in my pensieve."

"Why do you need them?"

A mirthless smile crossed the magi's face. "A precaution."

Anri blinked, and then she nodded.

* * *

Mitaka, the Millers' apartment, 2:10 PM . . .

"Just a minute!" The door opened to reveal Hannah Miller. On seeing who had come to visit her, she blinked. "Ayumu! What are you doing here?"

"Hey, Hannah-chan!" Ayumu called out with a polite wave; she was holding a bundle of lilies and a bottle of ramune. "Is Cynthia-chan here?"

"Ayumu-onēsan!"

Ayumu gasped as Cynthia embraced her, nearly knocking her down. "Whoa!" the former resident of Ōsaka gasped as she felt the strength of the younger girl's arms. "You sure are getting strong, Cynthia-chan! Soon, you'll be as strong as your mom!"

"What are you doing here?" a now-blushing Cynthia wondered as they headed to the living room so they could relax. Ever since they had crossed over, the Millers had taken quite well to the crowd that worked at the Spiral. Hannah, who had taught herself how to play the synthesizer as a hobby, often worked on her weekday (usually on Wednesdays) off as part of the unofficial orchestra that played songs whenever a ki cleansing ceremony was performed by Chikage to flush out the negative ki that had been gathered by the great tower from its surroundings. In that, she was joined by another veteran of the Aqua City incident, Jackson DeForest Bogart (known before crossing over simply as "Bogey"), who played a semi-acoustic guitar. And Cynthia, who had been taken under the wing of the youngest of the "Lillian Group" of Child Companions when she began attending the Lillian Girls' Elementary School in nearby Musashino in September, later had come to adopt all of them as her unofficial "elder sisters."

Ayumu shrugged before she held out the bottle of ramune for Cynthia. "Well, I came to give Cynthia-chan a couple presents from Priss-chan."

Cynthia stared up at the older woman. "Onē-san gave that to me?" she wondered as she took the bottle. Hannah knew her daughter always used "onē-san" without a name to refer to Asagiri Priss; all of the Child Companions were automatically named (and, of course, the Lillian girls were always addressed by the more formal "onē-sama").

"Yeah. She was praying for you with her new friend Sylvie-chan over by Aqua City and she left the bottle for you," Ayumu said before she held out the flowers, and then she handed them to the younger girl. "Oh, and them, too!"

Cynthia blinked before her eyes started to tear. "Onē-san was praying for me?" she wondered before she started to cry, holding the ramune close.

"Yeah, she was . . .!" Ayumu then jolted on hearing the sobs escape the younger-looking girl. "AH! Don't cry, Cynthia-chan! It's okay!"

Watching this, Hannah sighed. "Guess we ARE becoming more human."

* * *

Imaichi (eighty kilometres north of Megatōkyō), 3:05 PM . . .

"Cynthia . . . is alive?"

"Ja, Fregattenkapitän, she's alive."

Hearing those words, Hermann Ulrich Schwarz blinked as he absorbed that unbelievable bombshell of information, and then he slowly nodded, his eyes misting with tears as he remembered the wonderful times he had spent with the beautiful girl-boomer before her kidnapping the previous summer. "How's that possible?" the former commander of USSD's Japan Sector asked. Both were conversing in German. "When we sent divers down to the wreckage of Aqua City, they couldn't locate the body."

"The cadaver was recovered Sunday morning, just after the incident, by three 33-C boomers working for Geoffrey Frederick's master, Brian Mason," Chikage answered before sipping her tea. It had been child's play for the magi to slip into the "retirement home" undetected by outside monitors. While USSD's internal security apparatus was proficient when it came to detecting intruders - and yes, there were people in USSD who were aware of the various hidden magical communities existing today - they never anticipated someone like Chikage. "Of course, by then, the Janus circuit in Cynthia's AI chip had activated and transmitted her soul to the receiver station in Nerima. She woke up on the morning of Monday, the twenty-eighth of June."

"As?"

"A normal six year-old girl, fitted as a courtesy with the Kawaii-kōka power to better defend herself against threats from rogue cyberdroids."

Hermann nodded; Chikage had just spent an hour explaining the Janus process to him, using her own experience as an example as to what could now be offered to those who benefitted from it. "And because the leaders in Toratotaka don't want those who were involved in that insanity in '19 to learn of Janus, Cynthia had to be made to disappear, right?" he then asked as he gazed on her.

"In plain sight," Chikage answered as she drew out her PADD, turning it around to show him a picture. "She just finished her first grade of elementary school at Lillian in Musashino," she added as she handed the device over.

The commander took a look at the picture, and then he tapped controls to view the other pictures the magi had of his "late daughter." "Do people know what she is?" he then asked as he stared at his guest.

"The headmistress and teachers at Lillian know," Chikage answered. "As far as her friends know, she's an orphaned girl from Berlin adopted by a security officer from San Francisco who lives in Mitaka. Cynthia is aware of the consequences - ALL of them! - of her letting loose the truth to those who can't accept them."

He nodded, and then a sigh escaped him. "Is she happy?"

"Very."

Another nod. "Good." He then looked stern as he handed the PADD back. "So what did Genom do with the black box that was in Cynthia's head, Fräulein Hirosaki? I know there was an explosion at a research plant in Kawasaki a few days after that business in Aqua City. There WAS a self-destruct device in the black box."

"Scientists under Mason managed to scan the device's schematics and download its programming before they fitted it into a prototype 99-C hyperboomer. Of course, when they did that, they were killed in that explosion you heard of. Unfortunately, they were able to build replicas of that device. One went into a second prototype 99-C which was destroyed in Kawasaki in early July. You know the fallout of that particular incident." After watching her host nod, the magi sighed. "And there is a second one, now fitted into a prototype Bu-0X omniboomer called Maximillian Largo."

"'Oh-Ex?'" the commander repeated the model code. "What's that?"

"Physically, an upgraded version of the 99-C fitted with stolen Samguk-designed gravity-warp technology. Program-wise, he's the closest anyone in Genom has come to replicating the elegance Professor Stingray showed in the programming architecture he used for the Aijin prototypes at Whiz Laboratories," Chikage answered. "He's also programmed with Mason's memories. Memory-copying was another of Professor Stingray's all-too-many innovations; that's how Yoshio-papa was able to learn of Janus. Atop that, Maximillian has also been touched, so to speak, by the spirit of Armstrong."

Hermann went white. "Gott im Himmel! Does Quincy know . . .?"

"He does."

Seeing the neutral look on his guest's face, the retired space defence officer shuddered. "He's just going to let this thing run loose?" he hissed.

"Unfortunately, yes."

"WHY?"

"Because there are others who are aware - and who will become aware - of what Maximillian is and where he came from," Chikage answered. "Doctor Rosenkreutz's experiences in the Bio-War are also playing into this, Fregattenkapitän. In his eyes, it is to Genom's ultimate benefit - and the benefit of all of humanity - that his subordinates come to understand what unchecked ambition would lead to. Maximillian will provide the perfect lesson in that end. But it doesn't mean that we don't have to let it run TOO loose." Her eyes then narrowed. "Where are the other 77-S's?"

Hermann blinked, and then he shook his head. "I don't know."

"Do you remember how many were constructed?"

Another blink, another shake of the head. "I don't remember."

Hearing that, Chikage's eyebrow arched as she considered what was happening, and then she rose, walking over to stand close to him. "Let me see something here," she whispered before placing her fingertips on his face. "_Legilimens!_"

After a minute, the magi then whispered another phrase, one her host didn't catch. After a quick ten second exposure to that, she pulled her hand away. Hermann blinked as his mind seemed to shut down for a second, and then his eyes widened as images as fresh as fallen snow began to flash through his mind. Images he never knew until now had always been in his mind, blocked from conscious access by . . .!

"Mein Gott . . .!" he breathed out.

"They suppressed your memories," Chikage said with a smirk as she reached into her cape and pulled out her pensieve. "Effective technique, but they didn't anticipate a magical probe of your mind finding those memories." Her eyebrow arched. "Interesting that USSD is engaged in its own meta-bioroid research. As far as I'm personally aware, no government on Earth allows it."

"It was necessary, especially after the Avalonians left," Hermann answered, his voice ashes as a pit of horror began to appear in his heart. His well-trained mind was beginning to analyse the information he had, drawing up conclusions too dark to contemplate. "To believe their xenophobia would lead them to allow that . . .!"

"Probably, it is more than just xenophobia," Chikage noted as she held up a cautioning finger. "I'm aware of something else concerning USSD's operations in the early part of its existence you don't know, Fregattenkapitän." Sensing him looking at her, she smirked. "They were allied with the Infinity Corporation."

Once again, he turned stark-white. "I-Corp . . .?"

"Ja. It was they who destroyed the EDF fleet, not the Lannarkites."

Hermann shook his head. "Mein Gott . . .!"

"But that can be dealt with another day," the magi stated as she sat in her chair. "Right now, I want to know EVERYTHING about the Killer Doll project. Who was involved in their creation, how many of them were created and what their possible locations are. If you don't know it all, don't worry; I'll be sending questions out everywhere to get answers. If we're lucky, we'll be able to prevent Maximillian's madness from going totally out of control . . . " Her eyes then narrowed. "Much less prevent your former superiors from taking improper advantage of it."

Hearing that, the former commander of USSD Japan nodded in grim understanding. His oath, which he had sworn as an upper officer naval cadet back in 2020, made him vow that he would protect Earth and her citizens from all possible external and internal threats that could not be dealt with by national defence forces.

In his eyes, that oath was still in effect.

Reflecting on that admission, he smirked. A "disgraced" officer like him claiming that with more honesty than his "honourable" superiors!

"Alright."

* * *

Shinagawa, the Cliffside Inn, 5:10 PM . . .

"So this is the normal 'roid drinking hole, huh? Nice place!"

"Yeah, it's cool! We aughta hang out here, Boss!"

"Hey, Retort! Would the master of this place mind?"

Philip Paracelsus Hohenheim - to this day, he personally cursed the idiots who programmed the random name generator system the Guardians used to give crossed over boomers new identities for sticking him with something like THAT! - blinked before reaching up to pull the wraparound shades away from his dark brown eyes before he leaned over to gently devour his companion's lips. Feeling that wonderful kiss, Justina Mariko Liebig crooned. Seeing that, the other members of the Death Chix biker gang whooped in delight. After that kiss, both gazed into each other's eyes before the handsome young businessman with the slicked over dark brown hair winked. "Well, just as long as you girls know how to behave yourselves when you're here."

"Remember, we do have brothers and sisters who act as bouncers here," Philip's brother 55-C, Jackson Bogart, warned with a wink before his current companions leaned in to hug him, their hands drifting to his crotch. "Hey! Geez! Lay off, girls!"

"Well, tell us this one, Bogey-kun," the girl to Jackson's right, Raina Miji Blaine, cooed playfully before she leaned up to lick the muscular man's right ear. "Are they as well-programmed as you?" she sweetly asked.

"And did they get ALL the right programming augmentations when they got the chance to cross over and become human at last?" Raina's twin sister, Clara Mihwa Blaine - you could tell them apart by their different facial tattoos - wondered from Jackson's left as she leaned up to playfully lick his other ear.

Jackson winced. "Girls . . .!"

"Hey, Bogey! You ever regret crossing over?" the third of the four men seated at the table on the first floor with their companions, wondered.

Jackson smirked as he kissed Raina passionately, then did the same with Clara. "Nah, Grease! I could never regret that! Do you?"

"Hell, no!" Warren John Kleiser - he had been known as "Greaser" before crossing over - exclaimed before he drew his girlfriend, Kimber Xiāoxìng Jacobs, closer to him. "Especially not after Kimmie-chan introduced me to all the wonderful functions we got after we did the high dive," he added.

"Hey, Kim, you and Grease ready to do the big one?" Raina asked.

Kimber red-eyed her. "Give me time, Rainy! Sheesh! Lay off, huh!"

"What big one?" Philip asked.

Kimber blushed before she winked. "Well, as you guys so _wonderfully_ put it even now, my boyfriend and I'll one day walk under a certain tree over in Katsushika, do the linkpoint dance, then head to the flat and engage our reproductive functions."

Jaws dropped. "Hey, Grease! You SURE you're ready for that?" the fourth man - who, thanks to Janus, wasn't overweight anymore - wondered as he passed a comb through his girlfriend's hair. "Just because Han was willing to adopt Thia . . . "

"Beanbag, we all can do it, so why not?" Warren retorted.

The other man - his post-crossing over name was Robert Roger Casey; "Beanbag" was his pre-crossing over name - blinked, and then he shrugged. "What happens when you've got a child to worry about, Kim?" Jackson asked.

Kimber shrugged. "It's not that I don't want to stop having fun, Bogey. Still, we're gonna start getting seriously too old for this shit!" She leaned back to lean her head on Warren's shoulder. "I feel like it's time to settle down finally."

"And do office work?" Justina asked, a disgusted look crossing her face, and then she shook her head. "Not for me, Kimber! Not for me!"

"Nah, I was thinking of doing something really crazy!"

"What's that?" Raina and Clara asked in sync.

"Cross over and become a Cyber-Nurse."

Jaws hit the floor. "Are you SERIOUS?" Robert's girlfriend, Harriet Suzumi Maglie, demanded. "I mean . . .! Holy SHIT, girl . . .!"

"And not just any Cyber-Nurse, girl!" Kimber vowed.

Everyone gaped. "No way . . .!" Raina moaned.

"You're not serious . . .!" Clara demanded.

"You wanna become . . .?" Harriet breathed out.

Kimber smirked. "Mexican bandita! All the way!"

Everyone save Warren moaned. "Hey, Grease!" Philip stared at Warren. "I really hate to say this, but your girlfriend's malfunctioning!"

"And what's the matter with wishing that?"

Eyes turned as Franklin Geoffrey Frederick came up to join them, a glass of bourbon in his hand. Accompanying him was the last of the Death Chix, co-founder Nichele Ŭngyŏng Douglass. "Uh, excuse me, oh great Boss of ours, don't you have that knowledge stored away in your memory chips?" Robert said with a finger raised as he gazed on his former team leader. "Once Kimber becomes an MX . . . "

"Guaranteed life employment," Nichele mused as she hugged Geoffrey's arm, her other hand raising her shot glass up to down the rest of her soju.

"Not to mention getting trained to kick ass and take names no matter where you go," Raina said. "And you get to see the world, LITERALLY!"

"And if Kimmy and Grease get hitched, he goes with her!" Clara added.

The twins - as their names implied, they were a mix of American English and Korean-Japanese - exchanged looks before staring at Jackson. Sensing that look, the dirty-blonde bodybuilder with the dark blue eyes winced. "You girls aren't . . .?"

"Ain't fair for Kimmy to do it and we aren't with her," Clara noted.

"Damn straight about that!" Raina affirmed with a nod.

"Are you SERIOUS?" Justina demanded.

"Damn serious, Justy!" Kimber affirmed.

"Excuse me."

Everyone perked, and then they turned who had just called out to them. "Hey, Magic Girl!" Justina called out as Chikage walked up to join them. "You wanna wave your wand over Kimmy and see if she's been cursed?"

The magi's eyebrow arched. "What would be her problem, Justina?"

"She's thinking of turning herself into a damned cyber-doc!"

"An MX on top of that, Chikage-san," Geoffrey added.

Chikage blinked as she stared at him. "And that is a problem?"

"I wouldn't think so," he replied.

"Hey, Magic Girl! You listening?" Justina whined.

"Justina, we can discuss this later," Chikage stated as she stared at the Death Chix. "But right now, I've a favour to ask of you ladies."

The six women tensed. All were orphans of Second Kantō, winding up in various children's homes as they waited for relatives to pick them up, other concerned people to adopt them or their reaching age of majority so they could go live on their own. Neither of the first two options turned out to be viable for them. Relatives were scarce and most normal Japanese would never want to adopt children with part-American ancestry (especially since Justina's and Nichele's fathers were black and it reflected in their looks). And, like a certain singer and Knight Sabre had done, they all one day decided enough was more than enough and went into the streets, eventually becoming girlfriends to members of the Outriders. Over time, they formed their own sub-group in the gang, earning the reputation of being the toughest enforcers of the Outriders when they had to deal with people who crossed them. After J.B. Gibson decimated the Outriders' ranks in February, the Death Chix decided to strike out on their own. That had, naturally, been opposed by their old comrades, which wound up in a cross-city chase that ended in a pedestrian tunnel in Kôtô Ward that led into the Spiral grounds.

Put simply, they all owed Hirosaki Chikage their lives.

"What is it?" Raina asked.

"It concerns one of Cynthia's sisters," Chikage answered.

The males present blinked as they stared in confusion at the magi. "Um, Chikage-san, weren't they all scrapped?" Robert asked.

"They weren't, Robert," Chikage answered with a tired sigh. "I just confirmed this with a conversation with Schwarz-chūsa at his 'retirement home' up in Imaichi. All the seventy-four other girls are in hidden places around the planet, ready to be used when needed. It'll take a considerable amount of effort to track the remainder of them down. I've already started passing on the news to friends worldwide so we can track them all down. Fortunately for us, one of Cynthia's sisters is here in Tōkyō."

"Where?" Geoffrey asked.

"In Akiruno," Chikage stated as she drew out two pictures and an MMSD to give to Justina. "Currently under the civilian alias 'Anna Fennel.' Lives now with a man named Simon Fennel, a USSD research scientist currently assigned to Fussa. He was one of the junior programmers in the 77-S project."

"Fennel?" Geoffrey snarled before reaching over to take the pictures and scan them. One was that of a beautiful girl of the same physical age as Cynthia Miller, with curly red hair to mid-neck and deep brown eyes, looking like she was from Greece. The other picture was that of a man in his early thirties, with neatly combed black hair and blue eyes that looked a little inhuman on first glance. "Oh, it's him," the fusion boomer special operative-turned-bioroid corporate executive - Geoffrey was an up-and-comer in the Green Corporation - hissed out. "You little bastard . . .!"

"You know this clown, Boss?" Jackson asked.

"Hai, Bogey, I do. He's got a _thing_ for little girls!"

Everyone tensed, especially the Chix. All six knew what it was like to lose their innocence so young. "Wanna repeat that?" Justina snarled.

Geoffrey handed the pictures over to her. "He was personally in charge of encoding the 77-S's personality programming, Justina. Took code left, right and centre from what was done on the 33-S's, especially all the intimate stuff. You ever wonder why Cynthia didn't mind running around naked in Hannah's apartment until Tōko-san, Kanako-san and Noriko-san straightened her around?"

Jaws dropped. "Holy SHIT . . .!" Raina breathed out.

Justina shuddered as she stared at Anna's picture. The picture of innocence, just like Cynthia was, even now. A glance to Fennel's. Seeing those eyes, she shuddered. While it was not always smart to judge things _that_ way, there was no denying it; he just _looked_ evil. Her imagination went into overdrive as she imagined what it would be like for Anna to face such a man, much less live with him full-time. Closing her eyes as she fought down a surge of nausea coming up her throat, she then breathed out. "Consider him dusted, Magic Girl," she said as she stood, the other Death Chix rising with her. "How do you want the girl delivered and who to?"

Chikage drew what looked like a wad of bubble gum and handed it over. "Crossed over. Be careful when you deal with Simon; he IS watched by USSD because of Anna. If the chance is there you might get into a fight, break it off and keep your skins intact. Go to Nerima if you have to. But if you can, save her head and deliver it to Kurimoto Yukina down in Neo-Acropolis. She'll know what to do with it."

"Right on," Justina breathed out. She knew what the "bubble gum" really was and what it would do to someone like Anna. "C'mon, Chix!" she called out to her friends as she waved to the main doors. "We're ridin'!"

* * *

Meguro, close to Sylvie's and Anri's apartment, 5:40 PM . . .

"So when'll you be by?"

"Probably after eight," Sylvie promised as she handed a can of cola to Priss. Both stood in front of a convenience store several blocks from where the sexaroid was residing. "It's the type of thing that needs monitoring when it flares. Sometimes, her attacks last an hour or so. Sometimes, they go ever much longer." A sigh. "I just have to keep close to her until she's alright."

Hearing that, Priss nodded. "Something like epilepsy, right?"

"Hai."

The singer breathed out. "Fuck! I wouldn't want to live like that!"

"She's hopeful."

Priss perked. "How so?"

"She's recovering," Sylvie stated. "But it needs time."

A nod. "Yeah, I hear you. So . . . "

Before Priss could say anything more, the rumble of motorcycles echoed in the streets. Both women turned as a phalanx of six riders on very nice machines raced up from a road that ran parallel to the north edge of the Fault, zipping past the convenience store as they headed towards one of the cross-town expressways. Priss was quick to spot the leader of the group: Justina Liebig, a half-black American, half-Japanese girl around her age who had spent time in the same orphanage Priss stayed in after Second Kantō. Seeing the determined look on the black-haired, brown-eyed woman's face, the singer felt a shudder run through her. She always kept her ear out for interesting news from the city streets, especially with her now being part of the Knight Sabres. These days, Justina was the leader of her own gang, the Death Chix. They were a break-off group of the Outriders who had, after Gibson had torn the main group apart with his Griffon in February, gained a very powerful social patron along the way and told the rest of the gang to go screw themselves. The word got out real fast on the streets: NO ONE fucked with the Death Chix if they valued their lives.

"Do you know those girls, Priss?"

Priss nodded. "Yeah, Sylvie, I do. Those were the Death Chix. Biker gang that hangs out around here. Their boss was someone I knew in the orphanage." She gave the raven-haired woman a warning look. "Take my advice, Sylvie: don't EVER get on their bad sides. They're all mean ones and they got high friends somewhere."

Sylvie tensed. "Someone from Genom?"

Priss shook her head. "No, not Genom. Don't know exactly who they're with now." Her eyes narrowed. "But I will find out . . . " she whispered.

* * *

Minato Ward, near Roppongi Crossing, 6:20 PM . . .

"Irasshaimase!"

"Arigatō," Priss called back as she walked into Club Roma. It was one of several private hostess clubs in a ten-floor building on the Gaien Higashi-dōri southeast of the Crossing. The place was mostly empty at this time of day; the real action between workers and guests wouldn't really start up until much later in the evening. Of course, Priss wasn't interested in that.

"I'll be . . .!" a man's voice called out from the bar, making Priss turn and grin as a face from years ago appeared. "Asagiri Priss! What are YOU doing here?"

"Hey, Ken! You're looking pretty posh!" Priss called back as she accepted a hug and kisses on the cheeks from Ken Gralla, another orphan from the 2025 quake who had spent time in her gang before going "legit." Or as legit as one could be running a hostess bar, even in a country like Japan after Second Kantō.

"I hope so," he mused as he waved her to a nearby booth.

Someone - an S-77 model companion boomer, Priss noted - came over to get an order. Priss got a rye-and-Coke, and then she took a sip. "So what've you been up to since I last saw you?" she asked. "You left the gang when I started singing . . . "

"Got tired of the streets," Ken admitted. Like many orphans of Second Kantō Priss knew of, he was only part-Japanese; his late father had been a member of the Italian diplomatic staff who had married local before they died in 2025. "Got some start-up money and got this place going. Tried to do it as a straight bar, but the money was there in hostess work, especially with the amount of foreigners moving into the country with the reconstruction. Been at it ever since. Make a profit, too."

"Yakuza?" Priss then asked, a concerned look crossing her face.

He rolled his eyes. "The Tōa-kai came around early last year offering me better 'support' to keep my business running. I was tempted to give into them since the Inagawa-kai were ready to make a fight for all the businesses on this side of the Crossing. But then someone came along, told the Tōa-kai and the Inagawa-kai to cool it and it quieted down." A shrug. "Along the way, I formed an alliance with some of the others in this part of town - all street gang folk - to make sure everything's alright with all of us. We've been doing good ever since. Remember Yuki?"

She grinned. Machii Yuki had been another member of their gang, a very effeminate boy who could get away - and often DID! - with dressing up as a girl. "Yuki?" Priss exclaimed. "Haven't seen him for years! He still cross-dressing?"

A laugh. "He is. He runs Joline's; it's in a building closer to Azabu-Jūban. All cross-dressers." A warning look crossed his face. "Word of warning, Priss. You want to get info out of Yuki, it's gonna cost you." Ken grinned as he sat back in his chair. "He always likes to play the mysterious game, even when talking to friends."

A nod. "I hear you. What about you? Finally settling down?"

A shake of the head. "Not yet, but I'm dating someone," he admitted, a wistful smile on his face. "Doctor named Kusakabe Jun. Doing her internship at Minato General these days in shock-trauma; got her MD from Ishinomaki Women's University up by Sendai last March. Ever heard of the Nightingale Rides?"

She shook her head. "Nope, never heard of them."

"International volunteer airborne paramedic rescue service co-sponsored by the Kurusugawa sisters here in Japan and Samguk over in Korea, not to mention a whole slew of other companies worldwide. Even Genom pitches into it, but mostly under-the-table stuff. Just started up last year in Korea, Canada and the States. They're thinking of opening a shop here in Tōkyō sometime next year."

"How do they move around?" Priss asked.

"They're using landmates. The Hyundai Ladybird model."

The singer's eyes widened. "I've heard of them! You could fly one of those things right out from a car garage and it doesn't leave any dented doors or jet-wash."

"The same. Atop that, if you've got a good pilot on the controls, it could throw around a D-class battle boomer like a child's toy!"

Priss laughed. "Genom won't like that!"

"Yeah, most of the suits over in Shinjuku wouldn't," Ken affirmed with a nod. "But - so rumour says - the top tier in the Tower are all for it."

The singer perked. "Really?"

"No shit."

"That's weird."

Ken shrugged. "Rumour has it both Serika-san and Ayaka-san are both friends with old man Quincy himself, so it actually might happen." He smirked as he gave her a look. "So what're you doing here anyway, Priss?" he asked.

"Curious about something," Priss stated with a nonchalant shrug. "Couple hours ago, I saw Justy Liebig and her pals race out of Meguro heading somewhere. Justy looked pretty pissed. Hear anything about them recently?"

A shake of the head. "Not much about what they're doing now."

Her head tilted over. "What about whoever's backing them up?"

"What do you mean?"

"Heard what happened back in February with the Outriders?"

A snort. "Who hasn't?"

"Justy and her friends broke off from those guys and started their own group," she reminded him, sensing her old gang-friend _did_ know some things. "Rest of the Outriders didn't like them tripping out like that, then chased them all over the city. Next thing I hear, the Outriders called it off and people on the street start talking about the Death Chix as the nastiest things to come down since combat boomers. Atop that, they're coated in Teflon now. Every time someone tries to start a fight with them, the idiots that start it all wind up in jail and Justy and her friends walk away scot free." Priss' eyebrow arched. "So what's going down, Ken? I know Genom wouldn't be interested in them, but someone big's backing them up."

Ken sighed deeply before sitting back in his chair. "I haven't heard it out in the open, Priss," he then admitted, " . . . but the Death Chix are now good friends with some of the leaders of the Second Kantō Victims Memorial Association."

She blinked as her mind rolled over that revelation. "The Victims Memorial Association?" she blurted out. "You mean that charity group that sponsors all the homeless shelters and soup kitchens in the city? Why would Justy want to partner up with them? Hell, why would the Association want to deal with the Chix?"

"They're more than just that, Priss."

The singer stopped. "What do you mean?"

A sigh. "Ever hear of a woman named Hirosaki Chikage?"

Priss blinked. "Name's familiar . . . "

"She was one of over a hundred girls who were in comas for five years after the big one came down in '25. Crack medical team from the Ijūin Group got them on their feet three years ago. Did it WITHOUT cybernetics, no matter WHAT idiots who wanted to go after them said." Ken sighed. "You might have heard of some of the others from that bunch. Tenhiro Haruka from Chiba. The Murasame twins and Rindō Ayaka from Neo-Acropolis. Yukihiro Ayaka from Mahora. Hanazono Shizuma over in Musashi-murayama. And the biggest babe of them all: Ogasawara Sachiko from Musashino!"

Her jaw dropped. THOSE names, she was quite familiar with; Sylia Stingray always kept track of those people who ran investment companies that directed funds from citizens into Genom's large coffers. "Ogasawara?" she blurted out, and then she declared, "She's said to be old man Quincy's mistress!"

A laugh. "Hard to be that when the girl pings a hundred percent on the dyke-meter, Priss!" Ken advised her before shaking his head. "She's actually engaged to an old school chum of hers from Lillian Girls' High School! They're going over this summer to tie the knot in Canada, believe it or not!"

Priss whistled. "No shit!"

"Hey, it's true!" Ken affirmed with a nod before he leaned over. "Anyhow, Hirosaki was one of the girls who were woken up along with Ogasawara, Hanazono, Tenhiro, Yukihiro, Rindō, the Murasame twins and all of their friends. In fact, I heard a rumour once that Hirosaki and Tenhiro share the same dad, along with ten more of those girls who all got woken up from their comas back in '30."

A laugh. "You're kidding me!"

"All true. What's crazier about it is that those girls have an older brother! THEIR dad was none other than Minakami Atsuo!" Ken nodded in the general direction of Shinjuku. "He was said to be a pal of the old man in the Tower! One rich dude, too!"

Another whistle. "Fuck!"

"Yeah."

"So what is it about this Hirosaki girl?"

"Remember that fight when the Chix broke off from the Outriders?"

"Yeah."

"It was Hirosaki who put a stop to it."

Priss blinked. "How?"

"No one knows."

"Ken!"

"I'm not bullshitting you, Priss!" Ken assured her, holding up his hands in a peaceful gesture to ward off the singer. "All that I've heard about what went down was that the Chix all got into this place over in Kōtō managed by Hirosaki and the Association. When the Outriders went in after them, Hirosaki and some other girl named Kasuga showed up right then and there and cleaned house!"

Priss whistled. "Whoa . . . "

"Yeah. And ADP and TPD were right there to haul them off. Next thing I heard about that, the Outriders who didn't get jailed that day got a warning from Hirosaki: Behave or they'd be joining their pals in the slammer." A shrug. "You can guess what happened then. Liebig and her friends swore themselves to the woman right there."

"How'd she do it?"

A shrug. "I don't know, Priss. What's worse, when I asked around some of the people who help around with the Association folks, they all tell me one simple thing."

"What?"

"'Don't ask if you don't want to lose all sense of Reality.'"

The singer perked. "What the fuck does THAT mean?"

"Don't know, to be honest," he answered. "But the other street and bike gangs over the last couple of years have pretty much had similar encounters with that lady. Especially the gangs who like to pick on drifters in the Fault, the Loop and other places around town. According to what I've heard about her when she got involved in that stuff, she came down on them like the fuckin' Wrath of God Himself!" Ken breathed out. "Priss, whenever folks on the street talk about her, they all say the same thing: 'Don't fuck with Hirosaki. And that goes double for all her friends.'"

Priss nodded. "I hear you." She swallowed the rest of her drink.

"Want another?"

A shake of her head. "Nah!" Priss affirmed as she moved to pay. "Got a friend coming over to my place later today, so I better get back there to clean it up."

Ken laughed. "Oh! Getting ready for a date?"

Priss tried not to blush. "You wish!" she smoothly lied.

* * *

Minutes later, the singer had departed Club Roma. As soon as she was gone, Ken took a deep breath before he moved to stand up.

"Master?" a voice then called out in Italian.

He perked. "What is it, Marietta?"

The S-77 who had served Priss came up. "Why did you not tell the full truth about Mistress Chikage to your friend, Master?" she asked.

Ken sighed. He had been a "friend of the Spiral" for over a year, ever since a certain purple-haired magi came down to Roppongi one night in early 2032, brought together the local leaders of both the Inagawa-kai and the Tōa-kai, then brokered a deal between them that would respect their own needs AND allow independent operators like Kenshirō Michelangelo Gralla to conduct business without any sort of harassment. He had, shortly after viewing the great tower in Kōtō for the first time, learned of another incredible secret when he met - and fell hopelessly in love with - a beautiful, leggy, tomboyish blonde with blue eyes who had, back in mid-2027, been literally GROWN in a laboratory to be the perfect nurse (and later doctor). "Priss isn't ready for the truths behind Signorina Hirosaki, Marietta."

Marietta blinked. "How can you be sure?"

"I am," Ken affirmed with a nod. "Maybe someday in the future, Priss might come to understand what things like the Spiral, not to mention _this_ . . . " - he made the "J" sign with his pinky - " . . . ultimately mean. But not now. She's still too angry at a lot of things. You can hear it in her music. If she learned the truth about what Signorina Hirosaki can do, that would scare her. She'd want to know why it was all kept a secret. And if she didn't like the answer . . . " A shake of the head. "She's mellowing out a bit, I think." He waved her down. "Don't worry about it, Marietta. Priss will be okay in the long run. She's a born survivor, that girl."

The boomer took that in, and then she nodded. "That's good."

"Let's get the bar ready."

Marietta grinned. "Sì!"

_**To be continued . . .**_


End file.
